Atlanta Hawks to host Orlando Magic on MLK Day

After a strange one-year hiatus in 2017, the Atlanta Hawks hosted an NBA game at Philips Arena on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2018, taking on the San Antonio Spurs in front of an always festive holiday crowd. In 2019, the newly renovated venue will again play host to action on MLK Day, even if an initial release (on Aug. 8) revealed that the Hawks would not play host to a nationally televised game on TNT.

Instead, the league’s full schedule release on Friday afternoon revealed that the Orlando Magic will come to town (at 3:00 pm ET) to take on Trae Young, John Collins and the Hawks, with NBA TV serving as the non-local television provider for the festivities.

It comes as no surprise that Atlanta would have a home game on Monday, Jan. 21, especially since 2017 was the only year since 1999 (a lockout-shortened campaign) in which the Hawks did not have such an event on the calendar. The 2019 edition should be quite interesting, though, as Atlanta will have a few months to grow into a young (and rebuilding) roster before this contest arrives, while its opponent projects to be in a similar position with the added subplot of lottery jockeying.

Of course, Peachtree Hoops will be here throughout the rest of the off-season and, if you missed it, the full 82-games schedule can be found here.

Stay tuned.