INGLEWOOD, Calif. — This season has tested the Atlanta Hawks’ depth at the wing and Garrison Mathews has given them reasons to trust that they have it.

Mathews has played 27 games this season and has injected energy off the bench in the absence of Bogdan Bogdanovic. He has averaged 8.8 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game, but he continues to give the Hawks vital spacing as they continue to play the pass and look to bury high-percentage shots from deep.

“I mean Garrison, he like a microwave,” Hawks guard Dyson Daniels said. “He can come in and he’s already hot. He can put like, nine, 10, points on the board, like that. So for us, he’s a big part of us and the big energy guy comes on crashes the boards hard, defend. So when he comes on, we need his energy and he’s been really good at that.”

He has knocked down 43.6% of his field goals and 3-pointers, especially with the majority of his shot attempts coming from deep. In the Hawks’ 117-104 win over the Timberwolves on Dec. 23, Mathews tied his season-high in 3-pointers made to punch in 25 points off the bench, after putting up “DNPs” in the three of the previous four games.

“That’s nothing new for me,” Mathews said on Dec. 23. “This is my sixth year in the league, I’ve seen everything. I’ve started. I’ve not played. I’ve played little minutes, played a lot of minutes. We got a lot of great player development coaches, Ashton (Gibbs) in particular, who worked with me. He’s done great in helping me stay ready. So it’s a testament to him.”

The 28-year-old wing ranks in the 99th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass, in points per shot attempt. He averages 134.9 points per 100 shot attempts, which includes field goal attempts or free-throw attempts including when a player is fouled in the bonus.

The Franklin, Tennessee native has gotten fouled a lot, especially when defenders give him hard closeouts when he goes up to bury a 3. He ranks in the 86th percentile among wings in drawing fouls, with defenses fouling him on 13.3% of his shots.

That doesn’t mean that Mathews is resigned to taking all of his shots from the perimeter. Mathews, who is still the only player to suit up in the NBA from Lipscomb University, has worked with Gibbs to diversify his game.

This season, Mathews has looked for more opportunities to attack the rim, especially as more and more defenses look to chase him off the line.

“It’s definitely evolved, offensively, just being able to put the ball on the floor, make plays for others,” Mathews said. “And I still need to work on my finishing at the rim. But that’ll come with time and playing more and being able to find guys. So, it’s been an important piece to my game.”

But Mathews doesn’t need much to get him into the right head space to give the Hawks his all every night his number is called. He has a powerful motivator behind him every time he steps onto the court, no matter when that may be.

“Just being able to take care of my family,” Mathews said. “They’re why I play, why I try to make as much money as I can, why I play as hard as I can. I mean, God gave me these talents to be able to do what I love. And if I’m not playing as hard as I can every day, then it’s just a waste and disrespectful. So, that’s kind of my why and why I do it and try to, you know, stay in the right head space every day.”

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