Atlanta Hawks teammates Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Lu Dort combined for a big night in qualifying action for the 2027 FIBA World Cup on Monday.
Representing Canada, the duo had 51 points, and the squad came away with a 97-92 win over Argentina.
After hearing about the action, former Hawks star Jeff Teague was left feeling pretty good about the upcoming season in Atlanta.
"My Hawks gonna be alright this year," he said on Club 520.
In the win for Canada, Alexander-Walker had 26 points, three rebounds and five assists while shooting 8-for-17 from the field and 4-for-11 from beyond the arc.
Dort, meanwhile, had 25 points, two rebounds and two assists on 8-for-13 shooting from the field and 4-for-9 shooting from long range.
The two close friends and former high school teammates are getting a chance to build some additional chemistry this offseason in international play after Dort was traded to the Hawks earlier in the summer. Alexander-Walker has one season with Atlanta under his belt after coming over in the 2025 offseason.
Clearly, they're playing at a high level with Canada, so it's easy to see where Teague's excitement is coming from.
Alexander-Walker's first season with the Hawks was incredibly impressive. He took a huge leap en route to Most Improved Player honors. The 27-year-old, who will turn 28 this week, finished the season averaging 20.8 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game while shooting 45.9 percent from the field and 39.9 percent from 3.
Dort, for his part, is turning the page after a strong tenure with the Oklahoma City Thunder. He flourished as a role player, providing strong defense and showing major improvement from 3-point range before a bit of a regression last season. He helped OKC win it all in the 2024-25 campaign, the same season in which he took home All-Defensive First Team honors.
He will now have a chance to make a big impact in his debut season with the Hawks (and perhaps beyond) while Alexander-Walker will look to continue his ascension and maybe even approach All-Star territory.
Atlanta is going through a transition as a franchise after trading away star guard Trae Young and seemingly pivoting to star forward Jalen Johnson as its new centerpiece. With a lot of new faces in the building after an intriguing 2026 offseason, the Hawks will now look to keep pushing in the right direction and return to the playoffs after reaching the first round last season and being the only team to push the New York Knicks to six games.