When the Atlanta Hawks drafted Zaccharie Risacher with the first overall pick in the 2024 NBA draft, it changed the franchise forever.
Now granted, Risacher wasn't considered a prospect on the same level as Victor Wembanyama, or even Trae Young when he came off the board a few years back, but after a middling season, Atlanta flew up the board like a Hawk Condor to snatch the top-overall pick and ended up selecting the player they liked the most with the selection instead of trying to trade it elsewhere for one player or another.
Did the Hawks get the best player in the draft? Debatable; some fans and pundits preferred fellow Frenchman Alexandre Sarr, who opted against working out for the team in the hopes of forcing his way to Washington. But still, at this point, that's all semantics; Risacher is a member of the Hawks, and his focus now needs to be on making sure the Hawks can take a step forward in their pursuit of excellence.
Taking the court for the Hawks in Summer League, Risacher turned in a mixed bag for fans who were hoping to see the next great small forward with inside-out versatility, with the 19-year-old French forward losing the battle against Sarr in their 1-2 throwdown and suffering a quad injury that held him out of action down the stretch. Now granted, when Risacher did play, he showed flashes of being the two-way forward worthy of a massive contractual investment in the future, with his mid-range game sure to translate to the NBA level and his size looking like a plus in Quinn Schnyder's defensive scheme, but it's hard to be left with more answers than questions heading into the fall, especially if he misses any time due to his quad injury.
Could Risacher become the sort of player that propels the Hawks into the future, bringing the team back to the playoffs and forming a perfect three/four pairing with Jalen Johnson while rotating in alongside versatile players like Larry Nance Jr., De'Andre Hunter, and Dyson Daniels? Or will he struggle to transition to the NBA from the LNB and keep the Hawks in the lottery despite his best abilities? Well, if Risacher is able to start most of the Hawks' games this fall and can look like a natural playing alongside Young and company, it's safe to say hope will be at an all-time high in Atlanta, even if it takes a season or two to get there.
Hawks GM Landry Fields has massive hopes for Zaccharie Risacher
While the jury is still out on Risacher after watching him look ordinary during the Summer League, there are fans, pundits, and decision-makers alike who are very excited about everything he brings to the table, including but not limited to the man who drafted him, Landry Fields.
Discussing his decision to draft Risacher and everything that excited the team about his pro prospects heading into the 2024 NBA draft, Fields celebrated the French forward's skills, noting that there just aren't that many players who fit his player profile, especially at such a young age.
“Well, you start by what you see, and that is he is 6'10 and got the ability to play on both sides of the ball, has the ability to defend, a versatile defender, a really good shooter, and a high IQ type of player,” Landry Fields told reporters via Sports Illustrated. “You know, the amount of development that he has had up until this point is fantastic, he is still only 19, he will be 19 all of next year, and I have consistently said all of the important qualities for us in the past, about those types of players and who we want in the building at the end of the day and he possesses a significant amount of those”
When the NBA season opens up this fall, Risacher will not only be one of the youngest starters in the NBA but one of the youngest players in the NBA period, as he won't turn 20 until April 8th, which is a few short weeks before his rookie season comes to an end. If Risacher is this good at this young of an age, winning multiple Rising Star awards in the LNB and EuroCup before taking his talents to America, who knows how high his ceiling to be, especially when you consider he won't be in his prime by NBA standards until 2031, when he will be half a decade into his NBA career and potentially on his second NBA contract in Atlanta or otherwise.
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