As far as season openers go, it was certainly a forgettable debut for the 2025-26 Atlanta Hawks.
After retooling their rotation, the Hawks were largely expected to be one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. They didn’t play up to those expectations in their season opener against the Toronto Raptors, who were widely viewed as an inferior team.
The Raptors killed Atlanta in transition while the offense slumped. Atlanta’s new additions didn’t have the best debuts either. Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Luke Kennard both struggled to make an impact, shooting ineffieciently and getting worked on defense. Both of the Hawks’ centers – Kristaps Porzingis and Onyeka Okongwu – had solid performances, but it just wasn’t enough against a Raptors team that looked deeper and more cohesive. It is only one game, but it’ll be important for the Hawks to take this on the chin and move on to their game today against Orlando.
They’ll now take on a Orlando team that narrowly escaped against the Miami Heat with a win. The trio of Franz Wagner, Paolo Banchero and Desmond Bane all scored 20+ points against a solid Miami defense. That doesn’t necessarily bode well for the Hawks, but Atlanta needs to show they can quickly turn the page after a blowout loss.
Apr 15, 2025; Orlando, Florida, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young (11) reacts after given a technical foul against the Orlando Magic in the fourth quarter at Kia Center. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
Although it is only one game, the Hawks’ offense is not off to a great start. They finished 16th in points, 26th in FG%, 23rd in 3P%, 4th in FT%, 27th in rebounds (23rd in OREB), 11th in assists and 15th in turnovers per game. They weren’t able to shoot efficiently or put up points on large volume. Better nights will be ahead if Trae Young is at the wheel, but the offense has not started off strong.
That’s especially worrying because their defense doesn’t appear to be much improved. On a per-game basis, Atlanta finished 27th in points allowed, 28th in FG% allowed, 28th in 3P% allowed, 27th in rebounds allowed, 18th in steals and 8th in blocks. Those numbers are still subject to extreme fluctuation because of how early it is in the season. However, it’s disappointing that the Hawks came into the season with hopes of improving their defense and the quality looks very similar to past seasons.
Orlando’s offense needed to get better after making a big trade for Desmond Bane and the early returns are certainly an improvement. They rank 8th in points per game, 14th in FG%, 8th in 3P%, 7th in FT%, 13th in rebounds (19th in OREB), 15th in assists and 11th in turnovers per game. If they can hover in this range for an entire season, they are going to be legitimate contenders for a Conference Finals appearance.
Their defense is still good on paper and produce a lot of stocks, but its stats aren’t quite as impressive as they were last season. They’re 18th in points allowed, 19th in FG% allowed, 13th in 3P% allowed, 19th in rebounds allowed, 11th in steals and 6th in blocks. Even so, Orlando’s defense should still be great and the re-addition of Jalen Suggs to the lineup is only going to make them a more formidable unit.
Apr 15, 2025; Orlando, Florida, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Dyson Daniels (5) shoots the ball against the Orlando Magic in the first quarter at Kia Center. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
It seemed like almost everything that could go wrong went wrong for the Hawks, but the really staggering part of their loss was their struggles in transition. They allowed 1.43 points per possession in transition and the Raptors had 30 transition opportunities. That’s a problem that needs to be fixed because the Magic scored 1.48 points per possession in transition and play at a fairly comparable pace to the Raptors. After falling short against Toronto, the Hawks should be more prepared for how Toronto picked on them in transition. Therefore, it’s probable that the transition defense should regress back to being more normal. Whether it’s Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Dyson Daniels, Zaccharie Risacher or Jalen Johnson, there are many wings on Atlanta’s roster that can keep up with high-pace teams. Atlanta leads the league in pace and it would be surprising for the Hawks to lose to a team two night in a row because they got outran on defense.
Atlanta’s defensive infrastructure should also mitigate some of the problems that the Magic gave them last year. Last year, Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner were able to blow by their defender and put a ton of pressure on the rim due to their size. Things should be a little harder for Orlando with Kristaps Porzingis protecting the paint. The Hawks are currently 8th in blocks, so it wouldn’t be all that surprising to see the paint defense be a hard unit for Orlando to crack. Furthermore, they have multiple defenders they can rotate to match up with Franz. Even though Alexander-Walker didn’t have his best game last season, his IQ and instincts are a tough combination for any wing to beat.
This is also a matchup where Jalen Johnson has thrived in the past. He continued a summer of preseason excellence into one of the few solid performances of the season opener. Johnson tallied 22 points, eight assists, and seven rebounds in nearly 35 minutes of game action last night. That is his second straight game against Orlando with 20+ points, 7+ rebounds and 7+ assists. The difficulty of the passes he’s making is also ratcheting up as he becomes more confident, which bodes well for Atlanta’s chances of taking down one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference.
Apr 15, 2025; Orlando, Florida, USA; Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero (5) is guarded by Atlanta Hawks forward Mouhamed Gueye (18) in the third quarter at Kia Center. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
In three of the last four games that Paolo Banchero has played against the Hawks, he’s had 30+ points largely due to drawing contact and getting a lot of shots up. His physicality is something that the Hawks have struggled to find an answer for, especially in the absence of Jalen Johnson. Fortunately, Johnson is playing tonight, but it isn’t a guarentee that he’ll be able to slow Banchero down. Jalen’s defense didn’t look very strong against Scottie Barnes and he’ll have another difficult matchup tonight.
The Magic’s offense has been a weakness for years, but the early returns from the Desmond Bane trade are bearing some fruit. Bane scored the last four points for the Magic down the stretch to pull out the win over Miami and his gravity as a shooter has improved their offense. He put up 23 points on 7-18 shooting, including making three of his six attempts from deep. The Hawks got a front-row seat to how Bane can burn an opposing defense when he dropped a 35 point triple-double on them last season. Between guarding Wagner and Bane depending on the possession, Dyson Daniels is certainly going to have his work cut out for him tonight.
Considering that the Hawks didn’t do a very good job of taking care of the ball last night, they’ll have to be better against Orlando because they rank first in points off of turnovers and fifth in percentage of fast break points. Self-inflicted mistakes, reckless passes and dribbling into a corner cannot be an overwhelming theme against the Magic. The Hawks will have to take care of the ball, get back in transition and limit Orlando’s opportunities to turn defense into offense.
Atlanta Hawks: Forward Zaccharie Risacher (ankle sprain) is questionable.
Orlando Magic: Forward Mo Wagner (knee) is out.
Here is how you can watch tonight’s game:
Tip-off time: 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time
Location: Kia Center, Orlando, FL
Where to Watch: FanDuel Sports Network
Spread and Over/Under: The Hawks will be underdogs on the road tonight, as the Magic are currently 5 point favorites according to the latest odds from the Fanduel Sportsbook, and the over/under is set at 231.5.
Hawks:
G – Trae Young
G – Dyson Daniels
F – Vit Krejci
F – Jalen Johnson
C – Kristaps Porzingis
Magic
G – Jalen Suggs
G – Desmond Bane
F – Paolo Banchero
F – Franz Wagner
C – Wendell Carter Jr