Up to this point in his career, Jalen Johnson has had to play the waiting game.
In his rookie season, Johnson was limited to just 22 games under Nate MacMillan in a team who had just advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals prior to the 2021 draft in which Johnson was selected. The following season saw Johnson play a much more notable role coming off the bench (playing 70 games), but really showed his flashes of potential in the Play-In tournament. That summer, John Collins was traded and the door for starting power forward had finally opened for Johnson, and heading into his third season in 2023-24, Johnson appeared to be in prime position for his career to truly kick into gear
Since then, however, Johnson has had to play a different type of waiting game as he has suffered repeated injuries across the last two seasons which have limited him to 56 games and 36 games respectively in his two seasons as a starter.
The potential and promise is there, but Johnson has had to wait to show it as injuries have disrupted any good rhythm he has built up, particularly last season in which he averaged 18 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists, in addition to 1.6 steals and a block a game. Not to mention, of course, his defensive ability and versatility. Johnson encapsulates so many aspects within one player, a Swiss Army knife, and his absence couldn’t be made up for.
When Johnson went down with a season-ending shoulder injury last season, the Hawks’ potential for their season aspirations similarly went down with him. While the team is led by Trae Young, Johnson’s presence is key for the Hawks to realize their ultimate potential.
While Johnson’s season did not end as hoped, the summer has been productive for Johnson. Hawks GM Onsi Saleh spoke about Johnson’s summer and the Hawks’ excitement of his impending return, declaring him fully healthy.
“I think Jalen had his best summer,” said Saleh as part of his pre-media day availability. “Talking to him, talking to his agent, he has been working on his game tremendously and I think we’re going to see the best version of Jalen Johnson. He’s fully healthy, ready to roll for camp. We’re super excited about him, he’s a big piece of what we do. There’s so much more development there for him, the sky is the limit for Jalen. We’re super excited, but we’re not going to skip steps with that too, and he knows that. He’s been working hard on parts of his game that he needs to get better at. I couldn’t be more excited for a player. He’s just the ultimate team guy as well, culture guy. We’re really excited for him to have a big season.”
Hawks head coach Quin Snyder also spoke to the lengths Johnson has worked towards to make his comeback after facing frustration with injuries, and highlighted how Johnson makes his impact on the court.
“Jalen may be as excited as anybody to get going,” said Snyder. “He’s worked unbelievably hard to come back from injury situations that I know were frustrating for him because he loves to play. But he’s another guy we have to be patient with. Young is a relative concept on our team, but I would throw Jalen in the young bucket, and I think he understands that. You can still be good when you’re young, and he’s that. Like some of our other guys, the key for Jalen is to be efficient. Because of his versatility he can impact the game in a lot of ways. He’s an elite defensive rebounder, so when he grabs it off the rim and pushes it and either attacks the rim or passes it — that’s pretty hard to guard. But I want him to do more than that, he wants to do more than that, his teammates want him to do more than that…”
Johnson himself outlined some of the work involved in his rehab.
“Like any surgery, you’ve got to build strength back,” said Johnson of rehabbing from injury. “That’s what the majority of the summer was, getting my range back and stuff like that. It was a slow process, but it allowed me to take a step back and take it day by day.”
On the summer itself, Johnson reported a positive summer and, as he would several times throughout his interview on media day, spoke to how he was just looking forward to getting the season underway.
“This summer was good, it felt good to be back on the court and ramp things up again,” added Johnson of his summer. “It was a productive summer, looking forward to starting the season now.”
Just like recent years, Johnson worked out with LeBron James over the summer and spoke to how he learned from James in their workouts together.
“I worked out with him quite a bit this summer,” said Johnson. “It was great. He just somebody that gives knowledge back, there’s no ego involved. It’s crazy how humble he is considering what he’s done and what he’s doing still. He gives me a crazy amount of knowledge, even just stopping a workout and pointing something out. Just the fact I get to share the gym with him, it was really dope.”
Now entering the first year of his extension, Jalen Johnson is here to stay in Atlanta and ready to hit the ground running. It’s hard to appropriately state just how much Johnson brings to the table and why he’s so important.
Offensively, Johnson is great when it comes to finishing at the rim, shooting 71% at the rim. From dunks to layups, drives to pick-and-rolls, Johnson is able to put pressure on the rim and finish, and with the Hawks’ added spacing this season — especially at the five between the addition of Kristaps Porzingis and the ever-expanding game of Onyeka Okongwu — Johnson’s ability to get to/finish at the rim is going to be potentially even more prevalent this season; another weapon in the arsenal of the Hawks’ offense.
Shooting the three — Johnson shot 31% from distance last season — it’s probably the one area you could really say you’d like to see Johnson perform considerably better at this season. There were times where Johnson got a bit complacent shooting the ball and didn’t always have those good shooting nights. Similarly, there were possessions where Johnson would try to do a little too much off the dribble — this will be an interesting point of his development this season.
Johnson’s ability to handle the ball is fantastic at his size. Onsi Saleh mentioned in his media availability that he believed the Hawks having players with size who could handle the ball would be a positive for them. Johnson is the prime example of playmaking with size. His ability to grab a defensive rebound and take off, and either steamroll to the rim or pick a pass in the open court fuels the Hawks’ transition offense.
Additionally, the Hawks have seen Johnson operate the pick-and-roll, and this potential combination with Porzingis could be an interesting option for the Hawks if we were to see some 4-5 pick-and-roll where Johnson drives, potentially scoring downhill on the switch or being able to break down the defense to find a shooter in the corner, or perhaps Porzingis behind him. This can free up Trae Young off the ball, where he can provide himself as an option for a catch-and-shoot three — even describing this one potential scenario for the Hawks, you can see the versatility and degree of options that a player of Johnson’s skillset is able to provide.
The Hawks and the fanbase have known about Johnson’s potential for a few years now while the wider, more casual NBA fanbase, and NBA media would obviously be a little behind in this regard. However, arguably, this is the first season where Johnson enters with more significant expectations — most people know how good he is, and now is the time to deliver.
There’s obviously a lot of national NBA media podcasts out there, and Johnson’s name is one that is mentioned quite a bit now in relation to the Hawks. Johnson is now expected to be one of the Hawks’ top performers this season, and if he picks up another significant injury which derails his — and, by extension, the Hawks’ season — then it does open the door to some uncomfortable conversations, especially if the injuries rear their head again this season.
Johnson needs a clean season — to be able to have a clean season free of serious injury and showcase his talent —because between having to wait for his opportunity early in his career to injuries forcing him to wait, Johnson is now expected to deliver on the potential.
If he gets that opportunity, it’s hard to put a limit on what the Hawks can achieve with him this season.
There’s a general agreement among analysts and pundits alike that, between the Hawks’ additions, and major injuries for other teams in the Eastern Conference, this season represents a great opportunity for the Hawks to climb the Eastern Conference ladder, but how high they climb depends on Johnson’s availability.
Without him, there’s always a ‘what if?’ The Hawks, and Jalen Johnson, have had enough of those. They have their time now, a clean slate, and with it a great season may lay in store.