On Monday evening, Jalen Johnson and the Atlanta Hawks took the floor at the Crypto.com Arena to take on LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers. Although the Hawks were utterly dominated for four quarters, Johnson made his presence known in the City of Angels with several emphatic dunks, including most notably a poster jam over Lakers guard Austin Reaves on the very first Atlanta possession of the ball game.
A bit of controversy ensued late when Johnson was still inexplicably in the game almost midway into the fourth quarter despite the Hawks being down by nearly thirty points. Johnson then appeared to injure his ankle on a play, although it's still unknown just how severe the extent of the injury is.
After the game, Hawks head coach Quin Snyder offered an explanation as to why the future of his franchise was still on the court at that point in a game that was so clearly a lost cause.
“I had Vit (Krejci) at the table for (Johnson) at the 7-minute mark and then he sprained his ankle. Hopefully he's going to be alright,” said Snyder, per Brad Rowland of the Locked on Hawks podcast on X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter.
If the Hawks were to be extra cautious in handling Johnson's return to the floor following his latest injury, Atlanta fans would probably be very understanding. Johnson has been arguably the only bright spot in a season filled with disappointment for Atlanta, and his long-term health is much more important at this point than any regular season wins in the stretch run of the 2023-24 season.
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