The Atlanta Hawks continue to be (very) short-handed from an injury perspective, to the point where the team actually qualifies for a hardship waiver should they pursue that avenue. In short, the Hawks have been operating with a bare bones crew recently and, on Monday night, that could be something to monitor in the specific match-up against the New Orleans Pelicans.

New Orleans has a flawed roster in many ways but, in the frontcourt, the team deploys top-20 NBA players in DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis. Atlanta’s rotation up front features only three rotation-quality players right now, as both Ersan Ilyasova and Mike Muscala are expected to miss this game. While the Hawks actually have some advantage elsewhere against this (very) weird Pelicans team, the damage done by the Cousins-Davis duo will be something to monitor.

Elsewhere, Atlanta’s best player and starting point guard, Dennis Schröder, is coming off easily his worst offensive game of the season and he will have the chance to bounce back here. The Pelicans do deploy Jrue Holiday (and Jameer Nelson) at the point but Schröder should be able to navigate the New Orleans defense into quality looks if he is on his game in this spot.

Lastly, the Pelicans are dealing with a myriad of injury issues in their own right, with Tony Allen and Rajon Rondo joining an already lofty list of previous ailments for this game. New Orleans does have its core players available but the playing field is more equal than it may seem from the outside looking in, even as the Pelicans are (rightly) inserted as substantial favorites to win.

Stay tuned throughout the day for all the latest.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Monday, November 13, 8:00 p.m. ET

Location: Smoothie King Center

TV: Fox Sports Southeast, Fox Sports Go, NBA League Pass

Radio: 92.9 “The Game”