Hawks’ John Collins Set To Miss Two Weeks

Atlanta Hawks power forward John Collins has sustained a left ankle injury.

John Collins To Sit Out At Least Two Weeks

For the next couple of weeks, the Atlanta Hawks will miss the services of their starting power forward. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Collins was diagnosed with a left ankle sprain, and this will force him to sit out a “minimum” of two weeks. It was reported that the athletic power forward suffered the ankle injury during a recent game against the Orlando Magic. Collins only logged 16 minutes in that game, finishing with a stat line of six points, seven rebounds, two steals, and one block. Fortunately for the Hawks, they still managed to hack out a 17-point win over the Magic.

John Collins is in his sixth year with the Hawks. Through 22 games this season, he is putting up a stat line of 12.3 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 0.9 steals, and 1.4 blocks per contest. However, these numbers are his lowest averages since his rookie year. His shooting efficiency has drastically dropped — he’s only shooting a career-low 48.4% overall clip from the field, along with an abysmal 21.9% from the three-point line (average of 3.3 attempts). He’s already far off from the rising star he once was three years ago when he averaged 21.6 points and 10.1 rebounds during the 2019-20 NBA season.

Apparently, John Collins may find his way out of Atlanta soon. His name has popped up in trade rumors, especially with the Hawks discovering talented combo forwards such as De’Ante Hunter, Jalen Johnson, and AJ Griffin. The Hawks’ front office went all-in on acquiring a game-changer in Dejounte Murray last season, so there’s reason to believe that they will make more moves to bolster their roster. They are only holding a record of 13 wins against 10 defeats, and they definitely need to build a stronger supporting cast around Murray and Trae Young to go deep in the playoffs.