The Atlanta Hawks don’t need any extra motivation to know what Wednesday night means, but they’ve got it anyway.
Opening night brings the Orlando Magic back into the picture, and that immediately pulls the focus to the last time these teams crossed paths. Hawks fans remember it clearly. Orlando’s Goga Bitadze pulled down on Jock Landale’s shoulder while he was going up for a shot under the basket, Landale landed awkwardly, and he missed Atlanta’s entire first-round series against the New York Knicks.
That mattered because one of the biggest issues for the Hawks in that playoff loss was size and physicality. There’s no way to know whether the series would have turned out differently with Landale available, but it remains a huge what-if. New York controlled Atlanta around the rim throughout the series, and Landale’s absence only made that problem harder to hide.
Now the Hawks get a chance to put that matchup back in front of them, and Landale arrives looking like a different player than the one who exited last season. In preseason, he was all over the stat sheet during Atlanta’s 4-1 run, and he looked more confident than ever. He’s shooting with more freedom and using his size better inside.
A strong performance on opening night against the team that ended his most recent season would be a clean piece of revenge. It would also set the tone for an Atlanta team that seems to have a little something extra going into this one.
The league’s schedule-makers didn’t stumble into this pairing by accident, either. Hawks-Wizards would have made sense with Trae Young involved, but Orlando was the obvious choice for the opener.
Even with Atlanta going 4-0 against the Magic last season, those games never felt routine. They were tight, lively, and at times nasty in the best possible way. The rivalry flavor is already there.
If the Hawks are carrying any lingering frustration, Wednesday night is their chance to unload it.
In Other News...
Lu Dort Faces An Early Hawks Test That Really Matters
The season opener against Orlando already carries a little extra weight for Atlanta, not just because it is a divisional game, but because the Magic are one of the few early opponents whose playoff outlook looks close to the Hawks'. For Lu Dort, it is also a first real chance to show how quickly he can slot into Atlanta's plans after being brought in for the kind of rugged, position-versatile defense that can travel in any matchup.
Dort's value should be obvious right away against Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, two Orlando pieces the Hawks will need to deal with over the course of the night. The bigger question is how smoothly everything fits around him, because Atlanta has reasons to want Dort on the floor and reasons to keep an eye on what happens when his offensive game is part of the equation in a game where every possession matters. [Read more 🡒]
Nickeil Alexander-Walker Opens With A Chance To Burn Orlando Again
The Hawks are getting a familiar opening-night test, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker will have a chance to pick up right where he left off against Orlando. Atlanta starts the 2026-27 season against a Magic team that he handled well a year ago, when his rise into Most Improved Player territory helped establish him as one of the leagues more uncomfortable matchups for Orlando.
The bigger wrinkle is that the Magic are bringing back most of the same core, which makes this feel less like a fresh scouting report and more like a continuation of an old problem. The coaching change from Jamahl Mosley to Sean Sweeney adds a new voice on the sideline, but Atlanta still has reason to expect the same type of physical, familiar opener, with Alexander-Walker again positioned to set the tone early. [Read more 🡒]
Jalen Johnson Faces The Hawks Stretch That Could Change Everything
Jalen Johnson has spent the preseason looking like the kind of forward Atlanta can build around, and that matters even more with the 2026-27 season looming as a potential turning point for his role. The Hawks have every reason to keep pushing him into bigger responsibilities, and December is shaping up as a useful measuring stick for just how far his game has come.
The schedule does not offer much room to ease in, with games against the Magic, Pistons, Hornets and Spurs mixed into a month that should ask plenty of him on both ends. For Atlanta, the real intrigue is whether Johnson can keep turning those stretches into proof that he is ready for the bigger stage the Hawks seem to be preparing for. [Read more 🡒]