Hawks' Bogdan Bogdanovic makes season debut Friday; Trae Young out

Hawks wing Bogdan Bogdanovic made his 2022/23 season debut Friday against Denver and received a standing ovation from the home crowd when he entered the game off the bench (Twitter video link via Caleb Johnson of 92.9 The Game). He had been recovering for several months after having offseason knee surgery.

Bogdanovic has been a key member of Atlanta’s rotation over the past two seasons, averaging a combined 15.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.1 steals on .448/.398/.862 shooting in 107 games (54 starts, 29.5 minutes per contest). His long-distance shooting and complementary play-making will definitely be helpful for the 12-10 Hawks, since they currently rank 29th in the league in 3PA, 27th in 3PT% (32.5%), and are 21st in assists per game.

Unfortunately, star point guard Trae Young was ruled out with right shoulder soreness prior to the game, tweets Lauren L. Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Third-year guard Trent Forrest (concussion evaluation), who’s on a two-way contract with Atlanta, was also ruled out.

With Young and forwards De’Andre Hunter and John Collins sidelined, the Hawks started rookie AJ Griffin, former lottery pick and current two-way player Jarrett Culver, and second-year forward Jalen Johnson. It’s a huge opportunity for all three players to possibly earn bigger roles going forward.