The Atlanta Hawks entered the 2025-26 season as a dark horse in the Eastern Conference, and they have managed to stay afloat despite Trae Young’s extended absence. A right MCL sprain has led to Young playing just five games this season, but the Hawks are still ninth in the East with a 15-12 record.
The Hawks’ success has led to chatter about the potential directions the team could choose to go in moving forward. Do they keep this current core or part with some key pieces to retool this roster? Well, here we take a look at some notable updates concerning the team that have emerged recently.
Kristaps Porzingis
We mentioned Young’s missing time, and he is not the only one. Kristaps Porzingis has only played 13 games this season and is currently sidelined due to an unspecified illness. There was a lot of excitement surrounding his acquisition in the summer, but the Latvian might not end up lasting even one full season in Atlanta.
NBA insider Marc Stein reports that any potential major move the Hawks make prior to the Feb. 5 trade deadline is likely to involve Porzingis, who is on an expiring $30.7 million contract. Stein added, though, that the team announcing that the 30-year-old will miss two more weeks with this illness could complicate matters.
Porzingis had missed significant time due to illness for the Boston Celtics in the 2024-25 season as well. This is starting to become a serious concern, if that wasn’t the case already.
That said, Porzingis continues to produce when he is on the court. He has averaged 19.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 0.5 steals, and 1.6 blocks per game for the Hawks in 2025-26.
Jalen Johnson
The biggest reason why the Hawks haven’t collapsed despite two big names missing time is Jalen Johnson. Johnson is in the midst of the best season of his career, with averages of 22.8 points, 10.5 rebounds, 8.2 assists, 1.6 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game.
Johnson has also been on an absolute tear lately, recording his fourth straight triple-double in the 120-117 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday. So, it should come as little surprise then that he isn’t going anywhere.
Stein reports that the Hawks view Johnson as untouchable in trade talks, as they should. The 23-year-old is showing that he is good enough to have a team built around him, instead of playing second fiddle to anybody.
Trae Young
Young has perhaps faced more than his fair share of criticism over the years, and the Hawks’ play without him has emboldened his critics further. The team itself might also be more comfortable now than ever before with the idea of parting ways with the star guard.
ESPN reports that there is rampant speculation among rival teams that Young, who has a $49 million player option for 2026-27, could be available for trade in the lead-up to the deadline. That wouldn’t mean they would be lining up for his services, though.
A Western Conference general manager stated he wouldn’t want to bring Young in. An Eastern Conference executive, meanwhile, thinks he might have negative value.
Young was performing far from his best when he went down with the injury. His averages for 2025-26 are 17.8 points, 2.0 rebounds, 7.8 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.2 blocks per game. Young was very inefficient, too, shooting 37.1% from the field and 19.2% from beyond the arc.
Now, this is a small sample size, so it shouldn’t be looked into too much. That said, even when Young was putting up big numbers, the notion was that he wasn’t a winning player. He has been viewed as an empty calories guy, and there is talk about the Hawks potentially being better without him.
The Hawks have announced that Young is expected to return to practice next week, so he’ll be back in action sooner rather than later. It’ll be fascinating to see how he fits in with this group. If Young fits in well, then all this negative chatter will go away.
