Hawks Announce The Final Playing Status For Nickeil Alexander-Walker For Tonight’s Game vs The Kings

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Hawks Announce The Final Playing Status For Nickeil Alexander-Walker For Tonight's Game vs The Kings

The Atlanta Hawks have not had a winning streak longer than two this season, but they have a chance to reverse that trend tonight when they face the Sacramento Kings. The Kings are on a losing streak heading into tonight’s matchup and are also on the second night of a back-to-back. This is a prime opportunity for Atlanta to continue to improve and get another win.

After rolling over the Lakers on Saturday night, the Hawks got Jalen Johnson, Kristaps Porzingis, and Luke Kennard back for their game against the Clippers on Monday and the Hawks got the win, despite nearly blowing the game in the final minutes.

The Kings are a solid team on the offensive end of the floor, but they struggle to guard well. How will the Hawks attack this Sacramento team?

After missing the past couple of games, Nickeil Alexander-Walker came into tonight’s game questionable to play and the Hawks just announced his status. He will be avaliable for the Hawks tonight and likely make his return to the starting lineup.

An @emoryhealthcare injury update:

Nickeil Alexander-Walker (low back spasm): Available https://t.co/VPBKg5aimT

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) November 13, 2025

How the Hawks can win

Our own Rohan Raman previewed the game this morning and broke down how the Hawks can win tonight’s game:

“The Kings’ defense isn’t as bad as the Nets, but they have been really poor on that end so far. It’s one of the softest matchups that the Hawks’ offense has faced all season. Especially in the case of Jalen Johnson, the difference between Precious Achiuwa and Keegan Murray is noticeable. Johnson looked good in his return and finished just shy of a triple-double with 18 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. There shouldn’t be much resistance for him tonight and it’s also a good opportunity for Johnson to get back to his usual form as a rebounder. His TRB% is down from 2024-25’s 15.3% mark – he’s currently at 14.2%.

Although the Kings are actually a faster team in terms of pace (8th vs 16th), they aren’t that good of a team in transition. The Hawks have the edge in points off of turnovers (3rd vs 24th) and fast break points per game (8th vs 18th). This might be another game where the Hawks are able to out-athlete the Kings because Sacramento’s lineup can’t run with them.

It’ll be very interesting to see how the Hawks attack Domantas Sabonis in the paint tonight. It’s expected that they’ll have all three of their centers available and each of them brings something different towards the matchup with a veteran center who struggles on defense despite being massive. Sabonis is currently in the 0th percentile – yes, not exaggerating – with a 0.2% block percentage and fouls a lot (4.6% fouling percentage – 35th percentile). He is a decent defensive rebounder, but the Kings are 11 points better on defense when Sabonis sits. That’s a big weakness that the Hawks can expose.”