ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) \u2014 With just 23 games remaining in the regular season, the Atlanta Hawks are entering a pivotal stretch that will define their postseason hopes.<\/p>\n
This is no ordinary playoff push. The franchise is doing it with a roster that looks dramatically different from the one it opened the season with.<\/p>\n
The changes have been significant.<\/p>\n
Of the 14 players on full contracts at the start of the season, only eight remain (Nikola Durisic has played almost exclusively in the G League). The trade deadline brought seven newcomers to Atlanta, effectively reshaping the roster in a matter of weeks.<\/p>\n
The Hawks currently sit ninth in the Eastern Conference \u2014 hardly ideal positioning for a team trying to build momentum with limited time to build chemistry.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think our new guys have had one, two practices if that,\u201d Jalen Johnson acknowledged. <\/p>\n
Gabe Vincent, who was traded to Atlanta from the Los Angeles Lakers on Feb. 5, wasn\u2019t even sure how many practices he\u2019s had with his new team.<\/p>\n
\u201cThree or four, maybe? I\u2019m not sure,\u201d Vincent said.<\/p>\n
The reality is clear: the group has had little time to practice together. Every opportunity on the floor is now critical.<\/p>\n
Despite the whirlwind transition, there\u2019s cautious optimism about the foundation in place. The roster\u2019s average age is just 23 years old, giving the franchise a young core to build around.<\/p>\n
Vincent, a seven-year veteran, sees the upside.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve got a great young core here,\u201d Vincent said. \u201c(I\u2019m) excited to help them grow and grow with the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Head coach Quin Snyder is focused on maximizing what little time remains.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has been an unusual season. You guys tell me when there\u2019s been a time when half the team is new?\u201d Snyder said. \u201cThere\u2019s no time to start completely over so trying to identify what are the things that are going to be the most impactful and trying to focus on some of those things.\u201d<\/p>\n
One potentially important piece is still working his way back. Jonathan Kuminga, acquired from the Golden State Warriors, is recovering from a knee injury while navigating an awkward exit from his former team.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo pay a guy $20 million and not play him I think is interesting,\u201d CJ McCollum said. \u201cLooking at the situation it\u2019s a new opportunity to grow and develop as a player.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Hawks\u2019 next test comes Tuesday night when they host the Washington Wizards at State Farm Arena. The game will mark a historic moment for the franchise \u2014 the first time Trae Young returns to Atlanta as a member of the opposing team, though he is unlikely to play.<\/p>\n
As the Hawks push toward the postseason, the final 23 games will determine whether this rapid midseason overhaul can translate into playoff success.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 WANF. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) \u2014 With just 23 games remaining in the regular season, the Atlanta Hawks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620889,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3776],"tags":[676,208,60665,3874,7,7046,1409,81823,164,677,2990,867,6,2986,6433,494],"class_list":{"0":"post-620888","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-hawks","8":"tag-atlanta","9":"tag-atlanta-hawks","10":"tag-atlanta-hawks-basketball","11":"tag-atlantahawks","12":"tag-basketball","13":"tag-cj-mccollum","14":"tag-eastern-conference","15":"tag-eastern-standings-nba","16":"tag-golden-state-warriors","17":"tag-hawks","18":"tag-jalen-johnson","19":"tag-jonathan-kuminga","20":"tag-nba","21":"tag-quin-snyder","22":"tag-state-farm-arena","23":"tag-trae-young"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116122858739356121","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}