The Atlanta Hawks are preparing for the NBA’s Play-In Tournament where they will face the Chicago Bulls as either the 9th or 10th seed. Atlanta Is also preparing for the return of their star player in Trae Young after he missed the last several weeks due to a pinky injury that required surgery. The team has stayed afloat without Young but has not been able to make up any real ground in the Eastern Conference standings.
Dukes & Bell remain firmly entrenched on their stance that the Hawks need to rebuild around Young and continue to have him be the face of the franchise. Much has been made since he went down that Dejounte Murray has stepped up and perhaps supplanted Young as the leader the team needs to build around. However, the last several games the team has folded late in games where Young asserts himself as a dominant scorer.
Young and Murray were supposed to provide a one-two punch at guard that could have matched the best duos in the NBA. The pairing never panned out on the court and the team suffered as a result. It is widely speculated that the team will move off one of their stars this offseason, though nothing official has been declared by the team as the season unwinds.
