Why Kingston Flemings Should Stay in Hawks’ Starting Lineup Over CJ McCollum

The Atlanta Hawks have won three straight. Kingston Flemings started the last two: Wednesday’s 120-105 win at Washington and Friday’s 139-132 win over the Wizards, and he’s making a case that he should start for this team moving forward.

That may read as an overreaction. Fair enough. Both of these games came against the Washington Wizards. They’re a talented team, but that does impact an already small sample size’s merit.

They also both came in Jalen Johnson’s absence. He has missed three straight games with a sprained left ankle. So, they didn’t give us any data about Flemings’ fit next to the Hawks’ franchise player. That said, the fact that Flemings contributed to two wins in Johnson’s absence should count for something as well.

Flemings had 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting with 4 assists in his first career start Wednesday. On Friday, he followed it with 11 points on 5-of-9 shooting, 6 assists, and 2 turnovers.

But is he a good fit next to Johnson?

If there’s a nit to pick with Flemings’ performance over those two games, it’s his three-point volume.

Flemings attempted just four triples between those games. Sure, he hit three of them, but four attempts in two contests is not sufficient for a starting NBA point guard in 2026. That’s something Flemings needs to work on.

Otherwise, there wasn’t much to criticize about his performances. Flemings defended as well as he was expected to as a prospect. He made smart plays with the ball. He was also able to lean into a deadly midrange game that should bode well for his offensive approach moving forward. He has shown flashes of that scoring before, including 23 points against Miami on Oct. 28. Flemings was great:

But there’s an even more important reason to start him moving forward.

Flemings took CJ McCollum’s place in the starting lineup. Hawks coach Quin Snyder moved McCollum into a sixth-man role, ending a run as a starter that dated back to last season.

There’s been discussion throughout the year about McCollum’s viability as a starting point guard. For most of his career, he’s been closer to a combo guard. It’s possible that Flemings’ more natural distributing instincts would actually help the Hawks in 2026-27.

But there’s a simpler, more important reason to prioritize Flemings: He’s 19, and McCollum is 35.

Strictly speaking, the Hawks are not a rebuilding team. They have winning aspirations in 2026-27. Still, they are relatively young and ought to be building chemistry for years of sustainable success to come.

That doesn't mean McCollum doesn’t have a role. He’s a tailor-made sixth man as a combo guard. McCollum can come off the bench, spark the offense, and get enough minutes at both guard spots to do it regularly.

That said, if Flemings is unwilling to fire more threes, he’s a shaky fit next to Johnson (and wing Dyson Daniels). The Hawks will want to feel this out when Johnson returns, but if Flemings can make that tweak to his game, his superiority to McCollum as a defender and distributor could make him the best option as the team’s starting point guard for the rest of the year:

And hopefully, for a long time to come.