Trae Young calls Jalen Johnson a star. Johnson's dominant play is carrying the Hawks, proving he's the future centerpiece for Atlanta's winning streak.
Trae Young hasn’t played in more than a month, but his voice still echoed loudly over the Hawks’ upward swing — and it centered on the teammate who has kept Atlanta afloat.
With Young sidelined after injuring his MCL in late October, the Hawks have gone 13–9 behind Jalen Johnson’s emergence as a two-way force. What started as a survival plan has grown into something larger: Johnson playing at an All-NBA level and reshaping the ceiling of a team that long depended entirely on its star point guard.
Young addressed that transformation on his “From the Point” podcast, offering one of the strongest endorsements Johnson has received from anyone in the organization.
“That boy is a star… he has even more room for growth,” Young said. “What you're seeing from him now is just the tip of the iceberg. Obviously, he's been carrying us throughout this run and putting up crazy numbers and playing super efficient.”
Johnson’s most recent performance only reinforced Young’s words. On Sunday night, the 23-year-old delivered the best game of his career, pushing Atlanta to a 142–134 double-overtime win over the Philadelphia 76ers and sealing it with composure few players his age possess.
Johnson finished with 41 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists — numbers that underscored his growing ability to stabilize the Hawks in moments that once would have unraveled them. His back-to-back threes in the second overtime broke the last tie and sent Atlanta to its 10th win in November, the franchise’s first double-digit month since March 2022.
After the victory, Johnson kept the focus on the group’s resolve.
“It was good. It was a tough, grit-it-out win,” Johnson said. “We just did what we needed to do down the stretch.”
Nickeil Alexander-Walker added 34 points and six made threes, providing crucial shot creation beside Johnson. Dyson Daniels delivered another near triple-double with 17 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. Tyrese Maxey poured in 44 for Philadelphia, nearly dragging the Sixers over the finish line himself.
Atlanta’s largest push came early in the fourth quarter, when the Hawks flipped an 89–83 deficit into a 99–91 lead behind Keaton Wallace’s three. But defensive lapses allowed Maxey to carve up the lane for consecutive three-point plays, and a late rebounding breakdown led to his tying shot with 1.1 seconds left, forcing overtime.
Alexander-Walker said the Hawks know how close they came to letting it slip.
“Just late-game execution,” Alexander-Walker said. “You come up on one more rebound, it changes the narrative… honestly, the small things.”
Those details sharpened in the second overtime, helped by a simplified approach that played to the strengths of the players driving the night’s success.
Vit Krejci said the team leaned on clarity, not complexity.
“Don’t do anything complicated,” Krejci said. “You know who you want taking shots, who you want making plays… you got to know your job.”
Daniels continued to fill the margins in nearly every category and said his involvement in all areas has fueled his near triple-double stretch.
“Playing with the ball in the hands a bit more allows me to create for others,” Daniels said. “Crashing is a big thing… I’ve been close about four or five times this year, but we’ll get one soon.”
The Hawks sit in a better position than many anticipated when Young first went down. Johnson’s rise has opened the door to speculation about Atlanta’s long-term calculus at the top of the roster, but league sources have consistently maintained the team intends to evaluate its full complement once Young returns before entertaining any such discussions.
That return is nearing — and when it comes, the Hawks will get their first look at what this reshaped partnership can become.
Atlanta returns to action Wednesday night at home against the Los Angeles Clippers.