Trae Young is just about ready to make his return. Young was upgraded to questionable for the Atlanta Hawks’ game with the Charlotte Hornets on Thursday night. If Young is able to go in that contest, it’ll mark his first game since he went down with a right MCL sprain on Oct. 29.
Young was a full participant in practice on Wednesday, his second practice back with the Hawks after scrimmaging with their G League affiliate earlier this week.
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“It’s my knee, something that had to take a little more time than some other injuries … I feel good,” Young said Tuesday, via ESPN. “[My conditioning is] going to get better as you play. They wouldn’t even allow me to come back or even be close to coming back if my conditioning wasn’t right or close to it.”
Young suffered an MCL sprain in his right knee during the team’s win against the Brooklyn Nets on Oct. 29, and he hasn’t played since. That was just the team’s fifth game of the year. The Hawks have gone 13-9 without him over the 22 games that he’s missed.
Young averaged 24.2 points and a career-high 11.6 assists per game, which led the league, last season while earning his fourth All-Star nod. The 27-year-old is in the fourth year of a five-year, $215 deal with the Hawks this fall. He was eligible for a four-year extension, but a deal wasn’t done in time before training camp.
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The Hawks will enter Wednesday’s game in North Carolina with a 15-12 record. The team has not made the playoffs since the 2023 campaign.
“We’re trying to win,” Young said. “For me, it’s exciting having those guys, more voices that know what it takes to win at a high level, but also just playing a role at a high level… me included. I got to play my role in helping our team win.”
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