The Atlanta Hawks are at State Farm Arena tonight for the final time during the preseason and their opponent tonight will be the 2025 NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder.
If this were a regular season game, this would be a great test for the Hawks because of the way that OKC plays on the defensive end and because they have the best player in the league, Shai Gilgeous Alexander. But this is not a regular season game and Oklahoma City is treating it as such. It was announced earlier in the day that the Thunder were going to be sitting their main rotation players and just playing rookies, two-way players, and exhibit 10 contract players, more or less a roster that you would see in Summer League.
But there was question as to if Quin Snyder and the Hawks would do the same and they have just revealed the inactives list for tonight's game.
Dyson Daniels (rest)
Lu Dort (rest)
Keshon Gilbert (patella tendinitis)
Jalen Johnson (rest)
CJ McCollum (rest)
Onyeka Okongwu (rest)
Aaron Wiggins (rest)
Mouhamed Gueye and Henri Veesaar are also out for the Hawks.
What does this mean for Atlanta?
This is going to be a huge opportunity for the Hawks younger players to get a chance to develop and get valuable playing time.
The one player among the Hawks' regular rotation who was not ruled out was Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who missed the last game vs the Pacers. Given how the rest of the Hawks rotation is going to be out, I would not expect Alexander-Walker to get a lot of playing time today, if at all.
Kingston Flemings has been one of the stars for the Hawks during the preseason and he is going to get another chance to get valuable minutes and to be able to lead the offense. He has been impressive on both ends of the court and if the Hawks win, he will likely play a huge part in that.
Other players to watch tonight include Asa Newell, Zuby Ejiofor, Jalen Wilson, and RayJ Dennis. Dennis and Wilson had very good starts to the preseason, with an impressive performance against the Memphis Grizzlies. They are two very talented players to be on two-way contracts and could factor in for the Hawks this season.
Another player to watch is Kobe Johnson, brother of Jalen Johnson. He had a very good summer league, but has not gotten to play much in the preseason.
Starters for both teams
Hawks:
G- Nickeil Alexander-Walker
G- Kingston Flemings
F- Corey Kispert
F- Asa Newell
C- Jock Landale
Thunder:
G- Bennett Stirtz
G- Josh Dix
F- Otega Oweh
F- Brooks Barnhizer
C- Aday Mara
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