Hawks’ Hunter, Collins Exit Wednesday’s Win With Injuries

8:36pm: Hawks head coach Nate McMillan said Hunter and Collins will undergo MRIs on Thursday, according to Brad Rowland of Locked On Hawks (Twitter link). McMillan also confirmed that Hunter aggravated the same injury he was dealing with heading into the game.

7:32pm: Hawks starting forwards De’Andre Hunter and John Collins exited Wednesday’s game against Orlando with injuries and were ruled out for the remainder of the contest, Atlanta announced (via Twitter).

Collins, the power forward, sustained a left ankle sprain, while Hunter, the small forward, is dealing with right thigh soreness. As Gabe Burns of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweets, the Hawks were up 20 points at halftime, so it’s possible that may have contributed to the decision to sit both players.

The Hawks announced prior to the game that Hunter was available but dealing with right hip flexor soreness, and considering the hip flexor is located at the top part of the thigh, it’s reasonable to speculate that there could be a correlation (Twitter link via Lauren L. Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution). The team also announced that reserve wing Justin Holiday had entered the health and safety protocols and was out Wednesday.

Guard Gary Harris was injured during Wednesday’s game as well, experiencing right hamstring tightness that caused the Magic to rule him out for the remainder of the contest (Twitter link). Harris was making his sixth appearance in 2022/23 after offseason surgery to repair a torn meniscus caused him to miss Orlando’s first 15 games.

We’ll have to wait for more updates to determine whether Hunter, Collins or Harris might miss more time with their respective injuries.

The 11-10 Hawks had lost three in a row heading into Wednesday’s contest but are in a strong position to snap that skid, currently leading 108-89 with eight minutes remaining. The Magic will have dropped six straight if they wind up losing. Their current record is 5-16, the second-worst mark in the NBA.