The Atlanta Hawks have stayed afloat in the Eastern Conference with Trae Young missing time with an MCL injury, and players have had to step up in his absence. Zaccharie Risacher is one of those players, but the second-year player has struggled so far throughout the season.
Through 23 games, Risacher is averaging 11.0 points and is shooting 29% from the three-point line, which are both down from his rookie numbers. For Risacher, he's continuing to work through his recent slump, and Jalen Johnson has had to remind him who he is to get him back on track.
“Sometimes you got to remind him he was No. 1 pick and that wasn’t no fluke,” Johnson said via Lauren Williams of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“But you know, with Zacch, he’s somebody that’s always working,” Johnson continued. “Like, right now, he’s the last person getting shots up. That’s a consistent thing with him. So, if he just keeps doing that and sticking to his routine, he’s gonna start hitting shots again, and we’re all around him and support him and understand that he’s gonna get out of this slump.”
During Risacher's rookie season, he started off the year slowly, but started to pick things up over the second half of the season. Hopefully, it doesn't take Rsiacher that long to find his groove this season, but with a year of experience under his belt, he should be able to figure things out more quickly.
Zaccharie Risacher working through slump
One way that Risacher can get back in a groove is when Young returns, who has been helpful in getting him open shots early in his career. With the attention that Young attracts on the court, he can make things easier for the second-year player.
Risacher has had a few injuries throughout the season, with the last one being toward the end of their West Coast road trip, where he fell hard on his side after a dunk. He surprisingly only missed one game after the incident.
“I feel like I was a little bit shocked after the fall and my own, like my body was super tight and like couple of injuries, especially on my left leg,” Risacher said.
“But I fought through it in a way to help my team as, like, as quick as possible. So, I was really happy to be able to get back as fast as I did. And like I take a lot of pride in taking care of my body and making sure I’m doing the right thing off the court so I can be the best version of myself on the court.”
