Hawks Injury Opens the Door for Raptors as Play-In Team

Trae Young will miss at least the next four weeks opening the door for the Toronto Raptors to eclipse the Atlanta Hawks in the play-in tournament

An Eastern Conference play-in spot may suddenly be up for grabs.

The Atlanta Hawks’ playoff chances took a serious blow Sunday afternoon when the team announced Trae Young will miss at least a month after undergoing surgery to repair a ligament in his left hand. It’s the latest setback for the Hawks who have lost three straight and now appear to be clinging to the 10th seed in the conference.

For the Toronto Raptors, it opens the door for a play-in spot with 25 games to go this season. Toronto sits just 3.5 games back of the Hawks, who the Raptors knocked off Friday night in an upset road victory.

The Raptors must first jump the Brooklyn Nets who sit in 11th and have no incentive to tank as they’ve traded their first-round pick to the Houston Rockets. Brooklyn, however, has lost eight of their last 10 and sit just a half-game up on Toronto in the conference.

Toronto has split the season series with Atlanta, meaning the tiebreaker between the teams would likely be their record in conference games. The Raptors are 14-23 in the conference this season, a half-game up on Atlanta who sits at 14-24.

“It’s very important,” Raptors coach Darko Rajaković said of chasing a play-in spot. “We want to go into every single game competing and trying to catch up for a play-in and try to make the playoffs, and to grow at the same time.”

Basketball-Reference gives Toronto just an 11.3% chance to make the play-in tournament, however, that does not account for the new injury to Young.