Hawks' Jalen Johnson to undergo season-ending shoulder surgery: Sources

By John Hollinger, Jared Weiss and Jenna West Atlanta Hawks breakout star Jalen Johnson will miss the rest of the season after suffering a torn labrum, team sources said.

Johnson suffered the injury in the second quarter of Atlantas 122-199 loss to the Toronto Raptors last Thursday and did not return to the game.

Two days later, the Hawks ruled him out indefinitely while undergoing further tests and evaluation.

Advertisement This is a potentially disastrous development for the Hawks playoff chase.

Johnsons emergence as a second scorer and playmaker who could take the load off Trae Young helped diversity Atlantas offense, and it was almost by necessity since it came right at a moment when Youngs own impact and efficiency began to wane.

This season, the Hawks have a 115.0 offensive rating with Young and Johnson on the court together, scoring at a top-10 rate.

However, that swoons to 104.1 in the non-Johnson minutes, which would rank as the leagues worst offense.

Even in the minutes with Young but no Johnson, Atlantas anemic 108.3 offensive rating would rank 28th in the NBA.

The evidence has been abundant in recent games, with Atlanta on a six-game losing streak that included back-to-back home loses to lowly Toronto.

The Hawks are just 4-7 in the 11 games Johnsons missed this year, with five of the losses by 15 or more points.

GO DEEPER With three letters, Jalen Johnson is helping to mold Hawks' new identity Atlanta is in ninth place in the East at 22-25 and sits two games ahead of 11th-place Philadelphia in the loss column.

Thus, even qualifying for the Play-In Tournament is in some question with Johnson out.

Moreover, the timing couldnt be worse: Atlanta owes an unprotected first-round pick to San Antonio from the Dejounte Murray trade in 2022.

News of Johnsons season-ending injury was first reported by Yahoo/TNTs Chris Haynes.

Where do the Hawks go from here? Johnsons absence is such a tough loss because Johnson has emerged as a borderline All-Star player this season and has been instrumental in getting the team back to playoff legitimacy.

The timing is important because this should significantly impact Atlantas priorities at the trade deadline.

The team has played well enough to be buyers, but Johnson is irreplaceable in their system and they cant realistically win a playoff series against a top-three seed in the East without him.

They have a lot of veterans that they could offload for picks and that seems like a much more likely course of action now that getting out of the plane is going to be a real challenge.

Jared Weiss, NBA staff writer Advertisement Atlantas options at the trade deadline The Hawks have a protected first-round pick from the Sacramento Kings, an unprotected pick from the Los Angeles Lakers and a $23.5 million trade exception from Murrays subsequent trade to the New Orleans Pelicans.

However, the Hawks are also just $1.3 million from the luxury tax line and historically havent been willing to go over.

Also, any move has to take into account that Johnson would be back next year and in the foreseeable future as he begins the first season of a five-year, $150 million contract extension.

As a result, the Hawks might have to lean on smaller moves such as promoting high-scoring sixth man DeAndre Hunter to the starting lineup or trading away second-round picks for less expensive help on expiring contracts.

Either way, its a huge setback for a franchise that had exceeded outsiders modest expectations for the first half of the season, including advancing to the NBA Cup semifinals.

Minus Johnson, the goals likely become more modest, starting with keeping that spot in the play-in.

John Hollinger, NBA senior writer Required reading (Photo: Jordan Godfree / Imagn Images).

This article has been shared from the original article on theathleticuk, here is the link to the original article.