Atlanta Hawks’ star point guard Trae Young suffered a hand injury during their close loss 121-123 to the Toronto Raptors on February 23rd. Despite playing through the game, the full extent of the injury wasn’t discovered until later. The Hawks announced Young has a torn RCL in his left pinky finger. With their match-up against the Utah Jazz coming up, Coach Quin Snyder remains optimistic about the team’s playoff chances with Young’s hopeful return.

“This is the first time he’s missed any games this season,” Snyder noted in a pre-game interview. He further remarked, “You know he’s having a great year and this interrupts it and hopefully getting him back quickly…I’m not qualified to talk about the surgery itself but it sounds like it went well and he is more than likely focused on what he needs to do to come back.”

Trae shared his post-surgery progress on social media. He posted pictures with the caption, “Made it through .. 1st surgery & God Willing my last.. don’t worry I’ll be ready when the time is right!” He even included a biblical verse for inspiration.

Despite playing through the pain with a respectable 11-point, 3-rebound, 7-assist performance, the team lost their leading scorer, who averaged a stellar 26.4 points this season (alongside 2.7 rebounds, 10.8 assists, and 42.6% shooting). This loss adds to their existing front-court depth issues, as their starting center Okongwu recovers from a sprained toe.

The tight race for the playoffs

Coach Quin Snyder said on Thursday that Okongwu “is not going to be available for the foreseeable future.” “You have to adapt,” Snyder stated. “That happened when we lost Jalen (Johnson). We have to have minutes from Kobe (Bufkin) and Patty (Mills) and we obviously know what (Dejounte Murray) can do. I don’t want to wallow in anything.” 
he added.

Bogdan Bogdanovic, who averages a respectable 16.8 points despite coming off the bench in 46 games, will fill the starting lineup spot for the injured player.

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As these two teams prepare to face off, Jazz fans have a vested interest in their Hawks’ performance in the remaining six weeks. This match-up holds significant weight for both teams, with the outcome probably impacting their draft positioning.

The Atlanta Hawks (25-32) are currently 10th in the Eastern Conference while the Utah Jazz (27-31) are currently 11th in the Western Conference. While both teams still are in close contention for the play-in, Trae Young’s injury throws a spanner in the works for Atlanta’s playoff hopes. The Jazz, on the other hand, are 11th in a much more competitive Western Conference. With the likes of the lakers and the Warriors in 9th and 10th, can the Jazz stun the NBA and pip one of the former champions to the play-in spots?

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