Starting Lineups: Hawks vs Thunder

The Atlanta Hawks and the Oklahoma City Thunder are getting set to tip off and both teams just announced their starting lineups for tonight. The Hawks are going to be without De'Andre Hunter, who started in the first two games of the year, and that has paved the way for No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher to get his first career start.

Hawks:

G-Trae Young

G-Dyson Daniels

F- Zaccharie Risacher

F- Jalen Johnson

C- Clint Capela

Thunder

G- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

G- Aaron Wiggins

F- Lou Dort

F- Jalen Williams

C- Chet Holmgren

Young is off to a fantastic start to the season and has two straight games of at least 30 points and10 assists. In the game against Charlotte on Friday, Young had 38 points and 10 assists on 11-24 shooting and he also had eight rebounds. He is going to be facing one of the league's best defenses tonight and the Thunder have a lot of options to try and guard Young.

The story of the Hawks season so far has been Dyson Daniels. Daniels has played incredible defense and is also playing well on the offensive end, scoring 18 points on 8-10 shooting. He will be tasked with guarding MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Daniels had some early fouls in the game that caused him to have to sit in the first half and he is going to have to watch that tonight.

The Hawks are going to need Jalen Johnson to step up to the challenge tonight. Johnson has gotten off to a slow start so far this season, but that is by his standards. He scored 16 points on 4-15 shooting and he was 1-4 from three. He has not shot the ball super well this season, but it has been only two games.

The center position has seen Onyeka Okongwu play more minutes in each game and that may continue tonight. The Thunder are a better matchup for Okongwu and I think he is going to play more than Capela. Okongwu did not have another 28 point game, but he was still impactful vs Charlotte. Will this be the first game that Larry Nance plays this season?

Jackson Caudell has been covering Georgia Tech Athletics For On SI since March 2022 and the Atlanta Hawks for On SI since October 2023. Jackson is also the co-host of the Bleav in Georgia Tech podcast and he loves to bring thoughtful analysis and comprehensive coverage to everything that he does. Find him on X @jacksoncaudell

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