The Cleveland Cavaliers are entering their game Saturday night facing dire injury circumstances, but their opponents, the Atlanta Hawks, have some injury concerns of their own.
The Hawks have four players listed as out and three others listed as questionable for the game at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
Atlanta will not have Kobe Bufkin (left thumb fracture), A.J. Griffin (personal reasons), Mouhamed Gueye (stress fracture in back) or Jalen Johnson (left distal radius fracture) available.
More notably, Bogdan Bogdanovic (right ankle sprain), Clint Capela (left knee soreness) and De’Andre Hunter (right knee soreness) are questionable.
Bogdanovic and Capela have played in all 24 of the Hawks’ games so far this season, and Hunter has appeared in 21 contests. Capela and Hunter are regulars in the Atlanta starting lineup.
But Atlanta’s injury situation can be considered excellent when compared to what the Cavaliers are facing. They found out Friday that both Darius Garland and Evan Mobley will be out for multiple weeks.
Garland suffered a fractured jaw in a loss to the Boston Celtics on Thursday. Though the 23-year-old was able to finish that game, his prognosis now calls for him to be evaluated again in four weeks.
Meanwhile, Mobley has not played since Dec. 6, and a decision has been made for the 22-year-old to have surgery on a knee injury. He is expected to be sidelined for six to eight weeks.
Those injuries to two vital starters could not have come at a worse time for the Cavaliers, who have lost three games in a row to see their record fall to 13-12 this season.
Garland (at 20.7 points per game) and Mobley (at 16.0 points per game) are Cleveland’s No. 2 and No. 3 scorers, respectively, behind Donovan Mitchell. Garland leads the Cavs with 5.9 assists per game, and Mobley tops the team with 10.5 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per contest.
Despite those strong numbers, the Cavs have had an underwhelming season so far and sit ninth in the Eastern Conference entering play Saturday. The Hawks are in 10th place with a 10-14 record.
Mitchell recently put forth a message of togetherness as the Cavs look to keep their season afloat through the tough circumstances.
