The Cavs could catch a break by playing the Hawks without their best player.
The Cleveland Cavaliers could be facing a shorthanded Atlanta Hawks team that is missing their best player. Trae Young is listed as questionable on the injury report due to tendinitis in his right Achilles. The Cavs will be playing without Caris LeVert, Dean Wade, and Max Strus.
This would be the second game Young missed this season if he’s unable to go on Wednesday. The Hawks won the only time he didn’t play in their NBA Cup group stage game against the Boston Celtics. The same injury prevented him from playing that game.
The league, however, didn’t believe that Young’s injury should’ve kept him out of the Nov. 12 matchup in Boston. As reported by Chris Haynes, it was determined by an independent physician that Young could’ve played which is a violation of the Player Participation Policy. The Hawks were fined $100,000 for that. We’ll see whether that penalty has any impact on whether or not Young is available on Wednesday.
It would be detrimental to the Hawks if Young isn’t able to play. They’re 8.6 points per 100 possessions better this season when Young is on the floor compared to when he’s off. This is mostly due to his offensive impact. They’ve registered a 113.9 offensive rating when he’s on the floor. That number drops to 108.2 (17th percentile) when he isn’t on the floor. Even their poor defense has been worse without Young.
Young is currently averaging 21.9 points and 11.9 assists per game on .385/.333/.896 shooting splits.
