Duke basketball’s AJ Griffin is struggling with the Hawks this season.
With fellow Duke basketball product and Atlanta Hawks forward Jalen Johnson out of commission for four to six weeks with a wrist injury, AJ Griffin is seeing an uptick in minutes. But the 20-year-old NBA Blue Devil likely needs to play better than he did on Tuesday night to keep it that way.
In Atlanta’s 128-105 road loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Griffin shot 0-for-8 from the field and 0-for-4 from downtown across his 15 minutes off the bench. He tallied one rebound and one foul. That’s it.
There’s no doubt that Hawks head coach Quin Snyder, a former Duke basketball guard and assistant, expects more from Gryphon, who was drafted No. 16 overall by Atlanta in the 2022 NBA Draught after a one-and-done season in Durham.
AJ Griffin’s productivity this season has been significantly lower than his rookie year, when he scored 8.9 points and 2.1 rebounds in 19.5 minutes per game while shooting a respectable 39.0 percent from three. In 9.2 minutes per game, he averages 2.7 points and 0.9 rebounds.
As a Blue Devil, Griffin led Duke with his 44.7 shooting percentage from deep, becoming a consistent double-digit scorer despite injuries woes early.
The Hawks (8-9) now have one day off before travelling to San Antonio to face the Western Conference cellar dwellers Spurs (3-14) and former Duke point guard Tre Jones on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET.
Leave a Reply