Trae Young is about to return. Young was upgraded to questionable for the Atlanta Hawks’ game against the Charlotte Hornets on Thursday night. If Young is able to play in that game, it will be his first since going down with a sprained medial collateral ligament in his right knee on Oct. 29.
Young was a full participant in practice on Wednesday, his second practice back with the Eagles after scrimmage with the G-League affiliate earlier in the week.
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“This is my knee, it’s going to take a little more time than other injuries…I feel good,” Young said Tuesday, via ESPN. “[My conditioning is] It gets better as you play. If I wasn’t in the right shape or close to it, they wouldn’t even allow me to come back or even come close to it. “
Young sprained the medial collateral ligament in his right knee during the team’s victory over the Brooklyn Nets on October 29, and he has not participated in the game since then. This was only the team’s fifth game of the year. In the 22 games he missed, the Eagles went 13-9 without him.
Young averaged 24.2 points and a career-high 11.6 assists per game last season, ranking first in the league, and was selected to the All-Star for the fourth time. The 27-year-old is in the fourth year of a five-year, $21MM contract with the Hawks this fall. He was eligible for a four-year extension, but a deal was not reached in time for training camp.
The Eagles will enter Wednesday’s game at North Carolina with a 15-12 record. The team has not made the playoffs since the 2023 season.
“We’re trying to win,” Young said. “It’s exciting for me to have these guys, more voices that know what it takes to win at a high level, but also just play at a high level … including me. I have to play my part and help our team win.”
