The Atlanta Hawks have banked a solid start, but the first week of the season already brought a reminder of how quickly things can get sticky. Atlanta opened 2-0 with wins over the Magic and the Hornets, then ran straight into a Houston Rockets team that caused real problems in back-to-back matchups.
Now the Hawks move on to a busy stretch that includes home games against the Miami Heat and the Cleveland Cavaliers before a trip to New Orleans on Saturday. And with that comes the obvious question: how much of what happened against Houston was the Rockets, and how much of it points to something deeper?
The biggest concern right now is the three-point shot. In Monday night’s loss, Atlanta hit just 28% from deep.
In Saturday’s defeat, that number dipped to 26.5%. Houston is a difficult team to shoot against - one loaded with athletic defenders who rebound well - but the Hawks still need to prove they can make enough perimeter shots to keep the offense moving.
Jalen Johnson and Onyeka Okongwu are at the center of that issue. Johnson is shooting 15.8% from three, while Okongwu is at 17.6%.
That becomes even more of a headache when they’re sharing the floor with a non-shooter like Dyson Daniels, because the spacing gets tight in a hurry. It would help, too, if Lu Dort could lift his own percentage.
He is at 23.5%.
Every team has rough shooting stretches, and Houston made it harder than usual. Still, Atlanta needs to show that this is a temporary dip, not a larger issue, when the week’s games start piling up again.
Johnson’s efficiency is worth watching for another reason: he’s not just any rotation player anymore. After making his first All-Star team and earning his first All-NBA selection last season, he’s now the Hawks’ best player on the floor, and that changes the way opponents guard him.
His game gets dissected every night, and the numbers so far are uneven. He is shooting 43% from the floor, 15.8% from three, and his 52.4 true shooting percentage is below the league average.
A four-game sample is still too small to draw sweeping conclusions, but Atlanta needs more efficient scoring from him this week if the offense is going to find a better rhythm.
Not everything has been a concern, of course. Aaron Wiggins has been excellent to open the season and has given Atlanta exactly what it wanted when the trade with Oklahoma City was made. He has shot the ball well and has been one of the Hawks’ best players.
But the Hawks also need more from Lu Dort, Kingston Flemings, and Jock Landale. None of the three has shot the ball well so far, and Atlanta is not getting enough offense from that group.
Dort’s defense has been below his usual standard, and his shot has not come around. Flemings has defended well but has been reluctant to let it fly.
Landale, meanwhile, has struggled badly as a shooter to begin the year.
Some of that can be traced back to the Rockets and the defense they brought to the table. Even so, Atlanta is counting on those four players to help produce night after night, and right now that part of the equation is not where it needs to be.
In Other News...
Hawks Face A New Rotation Problem Ahead Of Heat Matchup
Atlanta is heading into its matchup with Miami coming off back-to-back losses, and the rotation picture is a little murkier than it would like to be at this point in the schedule. The Hawks already know Mohamed Gueye and Henri Veesaar will not be available, while Jock Landale is in line to play, leaving the coaching staff to manage a thinner frontcourt mix as it tries to steady things.
The bigger question is Aaron Wiggins, who is listed as questionable because of a left knee contusion. If he cannot go, the Hawks may have to reshuffle the way they piece together minutes against a Heat team that tends to make every possession feel a little tighter, and this is the sort of short-handed wrinkle that can force a coach to rethink a plan right up until tipoff. [Read more 🡒]
Atlanta Sports Fans Got A Brutal Reminder About Sharing State Farm Arena
Sharing State Farm Arena is usually a point of pride in Atlanta, but it has also turned into a scheduling headache. The Atlanta Dream ownership publicly pushed back on the WNBA after the leagues Finals calendar created a conflict with Hawks games at the building, a problem the franchise says it flagged well before the matchup became a public issue. For Atlanta sports fans, it was a blunt reminder that one downtown home can serve two teams at once, and not always smoothly.
The frustration only grew once the league had to adjust the Finals timetable to work around the Hawks home date, leaving the Dream and their supporters feeling like the concern had gone unresolved for too long. The ownership groups criticism was less about one isolated change than about the process behind it, and it leaves Atlanta with a familiar arena question: when the postseason calendar tightens, whose schedule gets priority and who ends up having to move? [Read more 🡒]
Dominique Wilkins Is Back In Basketball With An Intriguing New Role
Dominique Wilkins is headed back into basketball in a new capacity, with Alabama State University announcing him as the programs new general manager during the 2026 Basketball Tip-Off Dinner. The Hall of Famers latest stop keeps him close to the college game, as the Hornets prepare for new seasons under mens coach Chris Wright and womens coach Johnetta Hayes.
For Atlanta fans, it is another reminder of how much Wilkins still means to the sport well beyond his playing days. The move gives Alabama State a high-profile basketball figure to lean on, even if the exact shape of the job has not yet been spelled out, leaving some intrigue around how Wilkins will fit into the programs next chapter. [Read more 🡒]