Atlanta Hawks rookie point guard Dennis Schröder left Tuesday night's impressive victory over the Toronto Raptors with an apparent left ankle injury, and with that, his status for Friday night's match-up against the New Orleans Pelicans was very much up in the air. Now, though, we have a bit of clarity surrounding the situation following Atlanta's morning shootaround.
Update on Dennis: He will warm up and see how he feels tonight prior to tip-off... Coach Bud says he is "likely to play" #ATLHawks
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) March 21, 2014
Schröder has been a much bigger part of the rotation in recent days (as the presence of Lou Williams has evaporated), and he has touched the floor in live action in 13 of the last 15 games for the Hawks. The highlight of that run was an 8-point, 5-assist performance in a win over Milwaukee on March 13th, and the 20-year-old has upped his shooting percentage to nearly 45% from the floor over the past 10 games. In addition, Mike Budenholzer has been open with his increasing trust in Dennis, and there are real steps being taken from the 2013 1st-round pick.
It is certainly good news for both the team and the player that Schröder will "likely" be available for Friday night's tilt, and against an extremely underwhelming rotation of point guards for New Orleans, the rookie could have a nice evening. If for some reason he can't go, we will likely bear witness to the return of Lou Williams.