The Hawks are making a push in the second half of the season for a playoff spot, and with recent moves ahead of the trade deadline, including trading Trae Young, they have a new roster and a new push forward.
Jalen Johnson, who earned his first All-Star selection, is just one of the key pieces who can help turn things around.
Check out the latest updates from the Hawks here:
The Hawks have filled their last two-way roster spot. On Wednesday, the Hawks announced that they signed guard Keshon (pronounced KEY-shonn) Gilbert to a two-way deal.
The team now has a full roster with 15 players on standard contracts and three players on two-way deals.
Gilbert played in three games for the Wizards while on a 10-day contract from Feb. 6-16. But he spent much of his time with the Wizards suiting up for the Capital City Go-Go, their G League affiliate.
In 37 games, Gilbert averaged 15.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 1.5 steals. He posted a 25-point, 10-rebound, 10-assist triple-double — his first career triple-double — in a win over the Westchester Knicks. Gilbert joins new teammate and Hawks two-way guard RayJ Dennis as one of only eight players in the NBA G League to tally at least 25 points, 10 boards and 10 assists.
The Hawks have plenty of depth at guard, but the 22-year-old, who played at both UNLV and Iowa State, enters the Hawks system as the team looks ahead to the future.
Here’s a look at the Hawks roster.
Guards
- Nickeil Alexander-Walker*
- Dyson Daniels*
- RayJ Dennis (two-way)
- Keshon Gilbert (two-way)
- Buddy Hield
- CJ McCollum*
- Gabe Vincent
- Keaton Wallace
Forwards
- Mouhamed Gueye
- Caleb Houstan
- Corey Kispert
- Jonathan Kuminga
- Jalen Johnson*
- Asa Newell
- Zaccharie Risacher
Centers
- Jock Landale
- Christian Koloko (two-way)
- Onyeka Okongwu
* Indicates Hawks starter
The Hawks have released their injury report ahead of their final meeting against the Wizards on Thursday. The team listed Jalen Johnson (left hip flexor irritation), Nickeil Alexander-Walker (left foot sprain) and Zaccharie Risacher (right hip contusion) as questionable.
All three players had some bumps in Tuesday's matchup against the Wizards.
Johnson exited Tuesday's game midway through the first quarter after he seemingly tweaked something in his left hip. The team eventually ruled him out of the game with a left hip flexor injury. On Wednesday, the Hawks officially specified the issue as left hip flexor irritation.
Alexander-Walker's injury occurred near the end of the third quarter. Replays in State Farm Arena showed that Alexander-Walker stepped on the foot of a Wizards player before falling and holding his own foot.
The Hawks called a timeout, and with the help of teammates, he got to his feet and walked to the Hawks' bench on his own. He returned to the game after the timeout and played through the first half of the fourth quarter.
Early in the second quarter, Risacher got caught in a screen and tripped over the leg of the Wizards' Anthony Gill. Risacher went down hard, falling on his right hip.
Officials ended up whistling Risacher for his second foul of the game. But during the dead ball, the second-year forward needed several minutes to get to his feet. The 20-year-old ended up playing a game-high 28 minutes.
The Hawks and Wizards tip off at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at State Farm Arena.
The Hawks have made a change to their starting lineup. On Sunday, the team moved veteran guard CJ McCollum to the starting group in place of second-year forward Zaccharie Risacher.
The move comes as the Hawks continue to evaluate their new players and try to make a push toward the postseason.
The Hawks have closed games with McCollum, along with Dyson Daniels, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Jalen Johnson and Onyeka Okongwu, which has been one of the team's most productive groupings.
Per Cleaning the Glass, the Hawks have a +18.7 differential with that lineup across 166 possessions, versus the +3.1 differential with Risacher in the lineup.
McCollum has averaged 19 points, 2.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists since joining the Hawks, and he's made 37.4% of his shots from 3.
The team has also opted to move Risacher to the second unit in hopes of giving the 20-year-old forward a reset. Risacher has had an up-and-down season, as he's tried to figure out his role in the team's new landscape.
The increased usage rates of Johnson, Okongwu and Daniels, as well as the several changes to the roster, have not made things easy for Risacher.
Across 44 games, Risacher has averaged 10.4 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game.
The Hawks provided a medical update on newly acquired wing Jonathan Kuminga. On Wednesday, the team announced that Kuminga is progressing in his rehabilitation from a bone bruise in his left knee.
The team said it would re-evaluate Kuminga in one week and provide another update.
Kuminga sustained the injury while playing for the Warriors against the Mavericks in Dallas on Jan. 22. The 23-year-old forward looked to execute a transition play after a block by Moses Moody and pulled up on the offensive end after what appeared to be contact with a defensive player.
He limped to a courtside seat before exiting the game.
The Hawks acquired Kuminga, along with Buddy Hield, on Feb. 5 from the Warriors in exchange for Kristaps Porzingis. Hield has since made his debut Feb. 9, while Kuminga's injury has kept him away from the action.
But the Hawks will try to take a good and long look at Kuminga to see how he fits into their long-term plans.
The Hawks return from the All-Star break Thursday with a matchup against the 76ers in Philadelphia.
The Hawks have waived forward Nikola Djurisic.
The team announced on Wednesday that it requested waivers for the wing, who had yet to make an appearance in a regular-season game this season. The move allows the Hawks to convert one of their two-way players to the open roster spots. The Hawks plan to use the open roster spot to convert wing Caleb Houstan, according to a person familiar with the situation.
The Hawks acquired Djurisic’s draft rights in the 2024 NBA Draft in a three-team trade with Miami and Houston on June 27, 2024. They sent former wing AJ Griffin to the Rockets in exchange for pick No. 44, and they then flipped it and attached cash for the pick in a deal with the Heat for the 43rd pick.
The Hawks eventually stashed Djurisic in the G League after a leg injury in the 2024 Summer League limited him. He then played in 32 total games, including three starts with the Skyhawks last season, averaging 10.5 points, 3.1 rebounds and 3.5 assists.
They signed him to a standard contract using the second-round pick exception, which allowed them to for multiple years without needing the cap space to do so.
But now, the Hawks will move in a different direction with Houstan, who provides the team with even more shooting. Houstan has already appeared in 10 games this season with the Hawks, but the team would have only been able to make him active for a maximum of 50 games. Houstan has been active for 24 games.
This year, Houstan has spent much of the time with the Skyhawks, the team’s G league affiliate. Between the Tip-Off tournament and regular season, Houstan has averaged 15.9 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists on 37.5% shooting in 30 games.
The Hawks already have plenty of depth on the wing, especially after the acquisitions of Corey Kispert, Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield. But the Hawks add yet another shooter with NBA experience to the roster after dealing both Luke Kennard and Vit Krejci to the Lakers and Trail Blazers, respectively.
The Hawks return to action on Thursday in Philadelphia against the 76ers.
The NBA fined Hawks forward Mouhamed Gueye on Wednesday for his part in an on-court altercation with Timberwolves forward Naz Reid.
The league announced that it would fine Gueye and Reid $35,000 each for their confrontation during the Hawks matchup against the Timberwolves in Minnesota on Monday.
With 11:52 remaining in the fourth quarter of the Timberwolves’ 138-116 victory over the Hawks at Target Center, Gueye committed a defensive foul on Reid by pushing Reid from behind, which caused him to stumble after tripping over Hawks guard Gabe Vincent. After Reid stood up, he approached Gueye, and they aggressively grabbed each other’s jerseys.
Their confrontation cleared the benches of each team, with coaches and team security spilling out to separate them.
Both players received technical fouls and officials ejected them from the game.
Hawks forward Zaccharie Risacher will participate in the Rising Stars games during All-Star weekend in Los Angeles.
Risacher, in his second season, replaces Thunder guard Ajay Mitchell and will play on Team T-Mac in Friday night's event. It's the second straight season that Risacher will participate in the event, which includes first- and second-year players.
Mitchell has an abdominal strain, which will keep him out of the game.
Hawks forward Jalen Johnson has earned another nod from the NBA as the Eastern Conference Player of the Week.
Johnson won the honor for games played from Feb. 2-8 after helping to lead the Hawks to a 2-1 record. In those three games, Johnson averaged 27.3 points, 12.0 rebounds, 11.3 assists and 1.0 steals in 38.2 minutes of action. He shot 40% or better from 3 in two of the three games played last week.
Read the full story here.About the Author
