The Washington Wizards’ road trip continues with a Sunday evening match against the Atlanta Hawks. Here’s the preview!

Game Info

When: Sunday January 26 at 6 p.m. ET

Where: State Farm Arena in Atlanta, GA

How to watch: NBC Sports Washington

Injury Report

Wizards: Rui Hachimura (Groin, Out); Moritz Wagner (Ankle, Out); Garrison Matthews (Ankle, Day-to-Day); John Wall (Achilles, Out);

Hawks: Alex Len (Back, Out); Charlie Brown (Back, Out); DeAndre Bembry (Personal, Day-to-Day); Chandler Parsons (Concussion, Out); Jabari Parker (Shoulder, Day-to-Day)

Pregame Notes

Motivation

With the NBA All-Star starters named on Thursday, Atlanta’s young, up and coming point guard Trae Young was announced as a starter. While his performance this season has been amazing, his team record has not been. A few years ago Bradley Beal was left off the all-star team in favor of Carmelo Anthony, despite playing on a better team as well. With Young getting the nod with his team behind the Wizards in the standings, perhaps this is motivation for Beal to show that he is just as deserving of the same consideration that Trae Young has been given, to get the all-star nod despite playing on a team that is lower in the standings.

Playoffs? Playoffs? I just hope we can win a game

The famous words of former NFL head coach Jim Mora rings true for the Wizards. There has been some talk about the Wizards still being within 4 games of the 8th seed and pushing for the final playoff spot. If the Wizards want to get into that conversation of the playoffs, not only do the Wizards need to win this game, but they need to consistently win these types of games against struggling opponents. Losing this game would be detrimental to that goal because there won’t be many games left against teams who are behind them in the standings.