The Atlanta Hawks come out on top

Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images

The Atlanta Hawks earned the right to make the top pick in the 2024 NBA Draft on Sunday afternoon, selecting from a field of players considered the weakest in years. A year after the San Antonio Spurs landed eventual Rookie of the Year winner Victor Wembanyama, two more Frenchmen sit atop many big boards: winger Zaccharie Risacher and forward Alex Sarr.

Risacher, 19, recently helped French team JL Bourg reach the 2024 EuroCup final. Sarr, also 19, averaged 20.3 points and 9.2 rebounds per 36 minutes of play in the Australian National Basketball League. Two-time national champion Donovan Clingan is also a top pick after dominating the University of Connecticut.

Winning the draft lottery is a first for the Atlanta Hawks.

The uncertainty at the top stems from this year’s group not including a surefire No. 1 prospect. Last month, NBA analyst Jeff Goodman reported that several NBA executives told him that this year’s class was “the worst draft they’ve ever seen.” In fact, Goodman later added, winning the lottery represents both a blessing and a curse this year, because it comes with greater scrutiny and a predetermined salary 35 percent higher than that of the fifth overall selection.

Given the lack of enthusiasm around this year’s prospects, the Washington Wizards, Detroit Pistons and Charlotte Hornets all picked a bad year to have a bad year, finishing in that order atop the league’s odds. lottery on Sunday (the Hornets beat the Portland Trail Blazers). during a previous draw). Atlanta landed 3% of the No. 1 pick, while the Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs moved up to round out the top four picks, following the Wizards at No. 2.

Starting in 2019, the NBA updated its lottery rules so that the three worst finishers all have an equal chance of picking first, while the lowest overall pick is guaranteed a top-five pick. Once the top four picks are determined by random drawing, the remainder of the lottery order is filled via reverse order of regular season records. An Ernst & Young representative oversees the entire process. Sunday was the 40th^th NBA Lottery since its creation in 1985.

Here is the full order for the NBA Draft:

1. Atlanta Falcons
2. Wizards of Washington
3. Houston Rockets
4. San Antonio Spurs
5. Detroit Pistons
6. Charlotte Hornets
7. Portland Trail Blazers
8. San Antonio Spurs
9. Memphis Grizzlies
10. Utah Jazz
11. Chicago Bulls
12. Oklahoma City Thunder
13. Sacramento Kings
14. Portland Trail Blazers
15. Miami Heat
16. Philadelphia 76ers
17. Los Angeles Lakers
18. Magic of Orlando
19. Toronto Raptors
20. Cleveland Cavaliers
21. New Orleans Pelicans
22. Phoenix Suns
23. Milwaukee Bucks
24. New York Knicks
25. New York Knicks
26. Wizards of Washington
27. Minnesota Wolves
28. Denver Nuggets
29. Utah Jazz
30. Boston Celtics