Jalen Johnson landed at No. 11 on FanSided's 25-under-25 NBA Player Rankings this season, ranking the best young players in the NBA. Check out the rest of the list here.
The Atlanta Hawks will be good this season. Jalen Johnson holds the keys to making them great. Kristaps Porzinis, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and Luke Kennard will raise the Hawks' floor — but Johnson will dictate how high the ceiling is. That's why he lands so high on our 25-under-25 list; at 23 years old, Johnson is expected to be second-fiddle next to Trae Young on a rejuvenated Hawks team.
Entering his fifth season, the time is now for Johnson to stay healthy (he's played under 60 games in three of his four seasons) and just as importantly, to show that his bursts of brilliance can be sustained for an entire season. If he can do both of those things, the Hawks' biggest offseason "addition" will be a Jalen Johnson who's on the floor every night.
In 36 games last year, Johnson averaged 18.9 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2.6 stocks on 56.9 percent true shooting. If he posts that exact statline for 82 games, he's on the edge of All-Star territory, and if that scoring output jumps one or two more notches, he's likely wedging his way into All-NBA talks. In November of last year, Johnson averaged 21 / 9 / 6 / 1 / 1. It was an extended look at what he can be.
Johnson's play style is akin to a bull in a china shop; but a really graceful bull, who doesn't always feel a need to smash into things, and is just as comfortable sidestepping an isle of glassware for a finger roll lay-in instead. Wait, sorry, I lost track of that simile.
Point is, the 6-foot-9 Johnson isn't afraid of contact — in fact, he often seeks it out on his drives — but he isn't afraid to throw a well-timed eurostep in the mix, either. That works often because defenders, frankly, don't expect someone as big as Johnson to be so light of foot. But he is, and that versatility is a big reason why he shot nearly 75 percent at the rim... And the fact that he tries to dunk on everybody, every time, always. A bull can't help being a bull sometimes.
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Jalen Johnson and the Hawks now face real expectations
Since an Eastern Conference Finals run in 2020-21, the Hawks haven't made it past the first round, and have been dispatched in the play-in the past two years. There wasn't much disappointment among the Hawks faithful, who couldn't delude themselves into thinking those teams were destined for greatness.
But times have changed. The Hawks got better, while everyone around them seemingly got worse. Expectations have kicked in for the team, and Jalen Johnson's next evolution is a big factor in whether those expectations are met.
He may not be the top option on his team like some others on our list (Wemby, Ant, Paolo come to mind) but he might be the biggest swing factor of any of them. If he levels up, as does his team. If Johnson can become the player the Hawks organization believes he can, and be that player full-time, then his importance to his team's success will rival most players under 25.
Hypothetically, Johnson and Trae Young form one of the best guard / forward tandems in basketball, challenging duos like Haliburton-plus- Siakam and Garland-plus-Mobley. Young's stunning vision and passing ability, paired with Johnson's athleticism (and underrated vision himself), give Quin Snyder plenty of ways to experiment around his two stars. And experiment, he loves to do.
Hawks want more from Johnson, and they might get it
Quin Snyder made it clear at media day that the Hawks being a young team isn't reason they can't also win at a high level. On Johnson:
"You can still be good when you're young... And he's that."
Snyder also described what Johnson excels at; and that he thinks there's room to do even more.
"He can impact the game a lot of ways. He's an elite defensive rebounder, so when he grabs it off the rim and pushes it and either attacks the rim or passes it, that's pretty hard to guard... But I want him to do more than that, he wants to do more than that, his teammates want him to do more than that... But we have to be focused on doing more collectively..."
This is the kind of thing a coach says about a player they truly believe in. Snyder sees what Johnson is capable of, and knows that the worst thing he can do is not use every dimension of his multifaceted game.
We at FanSided also see what he's capable of; and that's why he's likely to be a mainstay on our annual 25-under-25 list — and a pivotal fifth season could raise him way up in the next installment.