What will the Atlanta Hawks' rotation look like in the play-in match against Chicago?

The NBA regular season is over and the play-in tournament begins Tuesday night, starting with the two Western Conference matchups. The Atlanta Hawks are playing in a play-in tournament for the third straight year, and although they don't want to be there in the postseason, the Hawks have shined in the play-in, going 3-0 the last two seasons. If Atlanta wins both games, a date with the No. 1 Boston Celtics awaits them.

Atlanta has been one of the most injured teams in the NBA this season and will be without several key players for this play-in tournament and possibly the series with Boston if it comes to that. Jalen Johnson and Onyeka Okongwu won't be able to play this week and Saddiq Bey suffered a season-ending injury last month. Atlanta chose not to convert forward Vit Krejci to a standard contract, leaving him on a two-way contract and ineligible to play in the postseason. With Johnson, Bey and Krejci unable to play, the Hawks have a problem at forward.

So that's the question: What will Quin Snyder do with the Hawks' playoff rotation on Wednesday against Chicago and perhaps beyond?

With those guys injured or missing, Snyder has inserted a starting lineup of Trae Young, Dejounte Murray, De'Andre Hunter, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Clint Capela. This will almost certainly be the starting lineup no matter how long the Hawks are in the playoffs, and I think all of these guys will play at least 30 minutes.

Snyder was already the head coach when Atlanta faced the Miami Heat in the play-in game last year, and looking back on that game, Snyder primarily utilized an eight-man rotation, with Jalen Johnson coming off the bench for 14 minutes. Young and Murray played 37 of 48 minutes, Hunter played 23 minutes, Capela played 28 minutes and former Atlanta Hawk John Collins played 22 minutes. The three players from the bench who got a lot of minutes were Bey (31 minutes), Bogdanovic (26 minutes) and Okongwu (20 minutes).

This is where things get interesting for Snyder. He doesn't operate with the same depth as he did in the game against the Heat last season and has to make some decisions.

First of all, I think Young and Murray will either play equal minutes or perhaps more. Furthermore, I don't think either will disappear from the ground at any point. I don't think there will be many minutes for Kobe Bufkin or Trent Forrest unless there is an injury or foul issue.

Capela is another guy that I think needs to play a lot of minutes. Now the Hawks have Bruno Fernando getting the backup minutes at center, but Snyder has to be careful about how many minutes Fernando might get. He plays well at times, but can also be brutal defensively, as yesterday's loss to the Pacers showed. I'm also worried he could lose rebounding battles with Bulls backup center Andre Drummond.

If Fernando plays well, he could get 18 to 20 minutes. If not, he cannot stay on the ground for a long time. Still, Fernando is a guy who has pretty much secured a spot in the rotation.

What about the front seats?

The other guy I'm confident will see some minutes will be Garrison Matthews. Matthews ranked fourth in the NBA in scoring (44%) and can get hot from deep. Now, that's Matthews' greatest skill and he doesn't bring much else to the court, but the Hawks could use his three-point shooting and live with some defensive issues.

If Snyder only runs an eight-man rotation, who gets the final spot?

There are three options. If Wesley Matthews is healthy, I would bet that Snyder is counting on him. He's an experienced player who is still solid on defense (on most nights) and has shown the ability to hit some three-pointers. Matthew has shot 34.8% from three this season but has been on the injured list for the last few games. He may not play many minutes, but Snyder could rely on the veteran player in a must-win game.

The other two options are AJ Griffin and Mouhamed Gueye. Griffin was out of the lineup for most of the year and then got injured, but he has played in the last two games since returning. If Atlanta were fully healthy, I don't think Griffin would be in the discussion, but they could use his size and shooting ability.

Gueye is another player who has been injured and out of the rotation for most of the season, but has bounced back in the last two games, scoring 18 points and grabbing nine rebounds. Gueye is an intriguing rookie with length and athleticism, but he lacks experience. I doubt he'll play tomorrow, but Snyder could use him to guard a guy like DeMar DeRozan.

If I had to guess, Young, Murray, Hunter, Bogdanovic and Capela would start, with Fernando, Garrison Matthews and Wesley Matthews spending minutes on the bench. It's possible that Snyder will try Griffin or Gueye and maybe even Bufkin for a few brief minutes at guard, but that's how I see the rotation heading into Wednesday night against Chicago.