Hawks' Trae Young: Needs surgery, out four-plus weeks

The Hawks announced Sunday that Young will undergo surgery Tuesday to address a tear of the radial collateral ligament in the fifth finger on his left hand. He's scheduled to be re-evaluated in four weeks following surgery.

Young suffered the injury during Friday's 123-121 loss to Toronto, and an MRI on Sunday confirmed that he suffered ligament damage to his pinkie finger. Fully torn ligaments can cause chronic pain and joint instability, so undergoing surgery appears to be Young's best option to avoid longer-term problems. Since Young won't be evaluated until late in March -- once the fantasy playoffs are over in most leagues -- and could require some additional time to get fully ramped up even if he's cleared for on-court work, managers in redraft leagues may be best off moving on from him. The Hawks currently hold full control of the 10th seed in the Eastern Conference, which sets the team up for a third consecutive Play-In Tournament appearance, but ensuring smooth recovery for Young could be a greater priority for Atlanta than chasing down a playoff berth. For whatever length of time Young ends up being sidelined, Dejounte Murray should take over as the Hawks' full-time starting point guard, while the team will likely turn to a collection of other guards like Bogdan Bogdanovic, Garrison Mathews, Patty Mills and Kobe Bufkin to absorb Young's vacated minutes.