The Atlanta Hawks took down the Indiana Pacers last night and will conclude their short road trip with a matchup against the Washington Wizards on Wednesday. It is the first of two matches against the Wizards this week, and it will be the first time that former Hawks point guard Trae Young will get to face his former team.

When Young left the Hawks, Jalen Johnson became the face of the franchise, leading Atlanta to the playoffs and making his first All-NBA team. Johnson has gotten off to a rough start to the 2026-2027 season and was not able to play in last night's game against the Pacers and is going to be questionable for tomorrow's game vs the Wizards.

Jock Landale, Mouhamed Gueye, and Henri Veesaar are all going to be out for tomorrow's game.

Can the Hawks play better?

The one player that is going to be back for the Hawks is rookie point guard Kingston Flemings. Flemings was serving a suspension on Monday and his presence was missed on the bench.

What if Johnson misses another game?

Last night, the Hawks started Lu Dort in Johnson's place and Dort had one of his better games of the season. Off the bench, the Hawks turned to Asa Newell and Zuby Ejiofor as the backup bigs and that was more of a mixed bag.

Newell did not score any points in his 17 minutes of action and finished the game as a -7 in his time on the court. Ejiofor was solid, scoring three points and pulling in five rebounds during his first extended action of the season.

If Johnson is going to miss another game, I do not anticipate that the Hawks are going to change up from their rotation from last night's game. I think that Dort is going to get the start while Newell and Ejiofor will continue to come off the bench alongside Flemings and Aaron Wiggins.

If Johnson does miss another game, will Corey Kispert see the floor? He got his first extended action of the season last night, scoring 14 points and hitting four threes, but finishing as a -9 in his minutes, completely due to his defense. If Johnson is out again tomorrow, it could be another chance for Kispert to be in the rotation.

But the Hawks clearly hope they get their All-NBA forward back tomorrow against one of the Eastern Conference's better defensive teams.