Jaylen Johnson’s meteoric rise is making Atlanta smile.

The Atlanta Hawks defeated the Orlando Magic 120-119 on Tuesday (Nov. 10) at CDMX Arena in Mexico City, Mexico, in the 2023-2024 NBA regular season.레모나토토

The Hawks were led by Trae Young, who scored a season-high 41 points, and Dejounte Murray, who hit a game-winning three-pointer with 31 seconds left in the fourth quarter to give the Hawks the lead.

Atlanta’s record to start the season is 5-3 in eight games. That’s a pretty good start for a team that didn’t have a decent replacement for last season’s starting forward, John Collins, after trading him to Utah.

And there’s an unsung hero fueling Atlanta’s ascent. It’s third-year forward Jaylen Johnson, who has been breaking out this season and filling the void left by Collins at 120%.

Johnson, who entered the NBA with the 20th overall pick in the 2021 draft out of Duke, is a forward with athleticism and a long wingspan. Last season, he started to get his chance off the bench and averaged 5.6 points and 4.0 rebounds in 14.9 minutes over 70 games.

This season, he’s back as an even more solid player. After a surprise 21-point performance in the opening game, Johnson has continued to play well after pushing Sadiq Bey out of the starting lineup, averaging 14.9 points and 8.9 rebounds in eight games this season on 59.8 percent shooting from the field and 34.8 percent from three-point range. He’s also averaging 30.3 minutes per game, more than doubling his minutes from last season.

Duke has a reputation for producing a lot of good forwards. Jayson Tatum, Brandon Ingram, Zion Williamson, and Paolo Banquero are Johnson’s college seniors, and teammate A.J. Griffin, a year his junior, also attended Duke.

With Johnson’s rapid ascent to the starter’s role easing their forward woes, Atlanta will look to continue their winning streak at home against Miami on Nov. 12.