The Atlanta Hawks are quite social savvy when it comes to Twitter.
More than most teams, the Hawks often utilize their social presence to draw fans in, often having players take over the account during games to do Q&As with fans.
Tuesday, as the Hawks prepared to take on the Indiana Pacers in Game 2 of their first round series—hoping to extend their series lead to 2-0, the ATLHawks Twitter handle fell into the hands of shooting guard John Jenkins.
Heading over to the @ATLHawks account. Tweet me questions and thoughts during game!
— John Jenkins (@JohnnyCashVU23) April 22, 2014
#ATLHawks fans: @JohnnyCashVU23 is filling in for me over at @ATLHawks for the first half of Game 2. Give him and our account a follow!
— Jaryd Wilson (@JarydWilson) April 22, 2014
Whats going on good people, This is @JohnnyCashVU23 y’all ready? Or nah?
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 22, 2014
Jenkins used the opportunity to address his status.
For those who are asking and don’t know. I had season ending surgery in feb but am recovering and rehabbing great and will be ready for SL
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 22, 2014
Jenkins suffered a back injury over the summer that caused him to miss the first five games of the preseason. As the season progressed, he began having nerve pain in his leg eventually causing him to sit out. At the time, he spoke with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about it.
My back is fine. It’s a pain going down my leg. It’s irritating. It’s uncomfortable. I’m dealing with that. I’ll probably get another epidural soon. I’m weighing my options on what I need to do to eliminate this thing forever.”
In January, after only appearing in 13 games, Jenkins began giving serious consideration to surgery.
I’m weighing my options on what I need to do to eliminate this thing forever. It’s been too long. It’s been preventing me from playing the way I need to be playing. I’m trying to play on it, play through it. It’s time to just get it out of the way forever.”
Finally after struggling with the pain for much of the season, he successfully underwent back surgery on February 3, 2014 in the Peachtree Orthopaedic Clinic.
It appears, according to his tweet, that he expects to be healthy in time for Summer League.
During the first half of the game, which the Hawks ended with a four-point lead, Jenkins expressed a lot of excitement for his team.