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Tim Bontemps
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young has no issues with his ACL after leaving Wednesday night’s 117-112 win over the Brooklyn Nets with a right knee sprain, according to coach Quin Snyder.
“The most important thing is it is not his ACL,” Snyder said after the game. “He’s going to get an MRI tonight or tomorrow, and make a determination from there. Not sure how long or what respect, but something he’s hopefully going to be back from whenever possible.”
Young, who entered the night averaging 20.8 points and 9.5 assists, was standing under the basket when teammate Mouhamed Gueye — after being pushed in the chest by Nets forward Noah Clowney — fell backward and into Young’s leg, sending him crashing to the ground.
Young was down for a while in pain before he eventually got to his feet and jogged to the bench during the ensuing timeout. He remained in the game once play resumed, but after seeing Young on the court for a few moments, Snyder took him out 17 seconds later. Young immediately went to the locker room.
”He didn’t want to come out of the game,” Snyder said. “He’s such a competitor. He takes a lot of pride in being available … You saw it tonight, too. He tried to stay in there. He told me, ‘Just give me a couple minutes,’ and I told him, ‘If I don’t like what I see, I’m taking you out.'”
Although it appears Young has escaped the most serious injury outcome, it also seems likely that the Hawks, who are now 2-3 after avoiding a late collapse to beat the winless Nets (0-5), will be without their floor general for the foreseeable future.
Atlanta came into the season with high expectations following a summer that saw the team trade for Kristaps Porzingis and sign Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Luke Kennard in free agency, but the one thing the Hawks do not have is someone to replace Young’s orchestration at the point.
Atlanta started the second half with Alexander-Walker in Young’s place, which could give the Hawks a dominant defensive group while he is sidelined. But last season Young led the NBA with a career-high 11.6 assists per game, and no one on the roster is capable of single-handedly taking on that creation load in his absence.
As a result, Snyder said the group will have to work together if Atlanta is going to survive without him.
“Anytime a player of Trae’s caliber, particularly someone that has the ball and is orchestrating situations on the offensive end, that’s an adjustment we had to make on the fly,” Snyder said. “Whether it was Luke [Kennard] or Nickeil or Dyson [Daniels] or [Jalen Johnson], the key thing when we are playing that way is everybody has got to be willing to play with the pass, and try to get advantages that way.
“It’s something we’ll keep working on, depending where Trae is with his health.”
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