The Atlanta Hawks are going to be facing the Indiana Pacers in an Eastern Conference battle tonight, but both teams come into this game with some injury questions, though the Pacers' are far more significant than Atlanta's.
Indiana came into this season with one of the most talented starting fives in the NBA, but none of those players are going to be suiting up for Indiana tonight. Indiana is going to be missing their entire starting give, as well as a few key bench players, as Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Pascal Siakam, Ivica Zubac, T.J. McConnell, and Ben Sheppard are all going to be out tonight.
Atlanta has its own fair share of availability issues , most notably the status of forward Jalen Johnson, who came into this game questionable for the first time all season. Shortly before tipoff, the Hawks have revealed his status for tonight's game against Indiana.
Johnson is going to miss tonight's game, joining Jock Landale, Mouhamed Gueye, and Henri Veesaar. This is going to leave the Hawks frontcourt depth very thin tonight, but in a matchup with the Pacers and their limited roster, the Hawks should be able to find a way to overcome this.
It will most likely be either Lu Dort or Asa Newell in the starting lineup for the Hawks tonight with Jalen Johnson out.
For size purposes, I think that starting Newell would be the more prudent move. While Dort has been the Hawks backup power forward this season, I think the Hawks should turn to Newell to see if he can provide some help on the glass.
With both Johnson and Landale being out for this game, I think that increases the likelihood that we see rookie Zuby Ejiofor tonight.
When Landale went down in the game against the Pelicans on Saturday, Newell was the only other big that came in, but he is not going to play backup forward and center. Ejiofor was the team's third center during the preseason, but the rookie has not seen any substantial minutes in the first seven games of the season.
Another player to keep an eye on is Dorian Finney-Smith. Finney-Smith has also not played meaningful minutes this season, but can function as either the backup power forward or the backup center if the Hawks try to play small.
Let's see what Quin Snyder decides to do with this team tonight.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/nba/hawks/onsi as Hawks Give Final Update On Jalen Johnson's Status Ahead of Tonight's Game vs the Pacers .
