The Atlanta Hawks were supposed to be Trae Young’s team forever. Over the last two weeks, Jalen Johnson has kicked that door down.
Across his last five outings, Johnson is averaging an absurd 30.0 points, 13.8 rebounds, and 10.8 assists in 39.7 minutes, with back-to-back triple-doubles to close the stretch. In that span, he’s put up game lines of 29-12-12 vs. the Cavs, 41-14-7 in Philly, 29-13-7 in Detroit, a ridiculous 21-18-16 against the Nuggets, and 30-12-12 in Saturday’s win over the Wizards. The box scores read like MyCareer numbers, not a 23-year-old forward figuring it out on the fly.
The results are following. After snapping a three-game skid with that 131-116 win over the Wizards, Atlanta sits at 14-11 and ninth in the East, including a strong 10-5 mark on the road. With Young sidelined indefinitely by a knee injury, Johnson has dragged the Hawks back above water and into the middle of the playoff picture.
Jalen Johnson Is Playing Like An MVP
Johnson’s season line already looked All-Star worthy before this five-game heater: 23.4 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 7.9 assists in 22 games, on 53.4% shooting while taking 15.8 shots a night. That’s not empty-volume stuff, that’s genuine No. 1 option production.
Zoom in on the last week, and it jumps to another tier. Against the Nuggets, he became just the fifth player since 1997-98 to post a first-half triple-double and finished with 21 points, 18 rebounds, and 16 assists in a one-point loss to the former champs. Twenty-four hours later, he followed it with 30-12-12 in D.C., his second straight triple-double and fourth of the season, as the Hawks blew out the Wizards.
This isn’t just a hot shooting stretch. Johnson is controlling entire games. He’s initiating offense at the top, running pick-and-roll, spraying passes to shooters, pushing in transition, and still cleaning the glass like a big. In the last five, he’s averaging more assists than most starting point guards and more rebounds than most centers while scoring 30 a night. That’s literally MVP-style usage and impact.
The Hawks Look Different Without Trae Young
When Young went down, the expectation was simple: the Hawks would crater. Instead, they’ve quietly gone 12-8 without him, powered largely by Johnson’s leap. Quin Snyder has leaned into a bigger, more switchable lineup with Johnson, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Kristaps Porzingis, and Onyeka Okongwu sharing the floor, and the ball has moved better than it ever did in the Trae-heavy heliocentric days.
The offense now runs through Johnson’s decision-making. Atlanta is spacing the floor with shooters, cutting off his drives, and letting him punish mismatches at the elbow or in the post. He’s become the guy who touches the ball every trip and decides whether it’s time to attack, post up, or hit a shooter.
Defensively, his size and activity are just as important. Johnson is grabbing double-digit boards, jumping passing lanes, and starting breaks himself. When your “point forward” is also your best rebounder, you suddenly play a lot faster without having to force pace.
“New Leader” Isn’t Just Narrative Anymore
Calling Johnson the Hawks’ “new leader” sounded spicy a month ago. Now it feels like a basic observation.
Trae is still the franchise’s biggest name, but everything about how Atlanta plays, competes, and talks right now screams that this is Johnson’s team. He’s the one putting up 30-10-10 type lines on national highlight reels. He’s the one closing games with the ball in his hands. When the Hawks push good teams like the Nuggets to the wire or break losing streaks as they did in Washington, it’s Johnson setting the tone.
Even national voices are starting to say the quiet part out loud. If Atlanta eventually has to choose between doubling down on Trae or building around Johnson plus a haul of picks, stretches like this will be Exhibit A for the “Jalen is the future” side.
How Sustainable Is This Version Of Jalen Johnson?
Is he going to average 30-14-10 forever? Obviously not. But the core ingredients of what he’s doing are sustainable.
He’s not living on outrageous three-point shooting or some absurd free-throw spike. Most of his work comes from attacking gaps, punishing cross-matches, posting smaller defenders, and making quick decisions with the ball. The passing vision, the rebounding motor, and the ability to guard multiple positions are not a fluke.
The most important thing is that the Hawks’ win style fits him. Snyder’s offense spreads the floor, empowers multiple handlers, and encourages quick reads. With Young out, Johnson finally has the reps to prove he can be more than a play-finishing forward. He looks like the guy everyone else orbits around.
At 14-11, the Hawks are far from a finished product. They still turn the ball over too much, their defense can swing from locked-in to chaotic, and they’re figuring out what their post-Trae identity really is. But one thing is crystal clear after these last five games:
Atlanta has a new leader, and his name is Jalen Johnson. Right now, his numbers and his impact look a whole lot like an MVP’s.
