The Hawks will be without their biggest star for at least a month.
Trae Young suffered a torn ligament in his left pinky finger and will undergo surgery to repair the injury on Tuesday. the team announced Sunday afternoon.
The injury occurred during Friday’s 123-121 loss to the Raptors, and an MRI the next day revealed Young suffered a torn radial collateral ligament.
The 25-year-old will be retested in four weeks.
It would be no exaggeration to say that this news was a blow to Atlanta, which is in 10th place in the Eastern Conference and has lost three straight games.
The Hawks still hold a three-game lead over the Nets for the last play-in spot in the Eastern Conference, meaning there isn’t much room for error for Atlanta.
Young, an All-Star for the third time this season, is averaging a team-high 26.4 points and 10.8 assists per game.
He also leads the NBA in total assists with 553.
It’s not entirely clear when the injury occurred, as Young played 35 minutes on Friday, and was held to just 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting.
Still, the Hawks rely on Young’s ability to drive much of the offense, and when he’s not on the court, they’ll likely hand that responsibility to Dejounte Murray.
Of course, Murray’s name was the topic of many trade rumors earlier this month right up until the trade deadline. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports. that he would not be treated.
The Hawks have already addressed the issue. Forward Onyeka Okongwu suffers another injuryhas sprained his left big toe and is wearing a walking boot.
The team said it will be reevaluated in two weeks.
Atlanta has 25 games remaining after facing the Magic on Sunday night at State Farm Arena.
