The Atlanta Hawks are set to take the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft, and this year there’s a mystery about who it will be – WABE

Since the lucky numbers were announced for the Atlanta Hawks for a surprising lottery win, speculation has focused on Frenchmen Alex Sarr and Zaccharie Risacher as players they would consider for the No. 1 pick.

Donovan Clingan hopes he’s given them someone else to think about.

The center for two-time defending national champion UConn also visited the Hawks and thought he had a good performance.

“So I feel like practice went well and we’ll see tomorrow,” Clingan said Tuesday.

There was no such mystery last season.

Victor Wembanyama was always the choice for the San Antonio Spurs and the French center proved to be the right one with a Rookie of the Year season. When the draft, which now lasts two nights, begins Wednesday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, one or two other French people could quickly hear his name called by commissioner Adam Silver.

Sarr is a 7-footer who spent last season playing for the Australian National Basketball League in Perth. Risacher (pronounced Ree-zah-shay) is a striker who had an exceptional season last year in France.

The players are friends who were teammates in 2023 when France won silver at the Under-19 World Cup.

“I think we are two different players,” Sarr said. “We can’t really compare. We played in two different places and we both bring different skills to the game.”

If Sarr or Risacher are chosen first, it would be the first time the draft has been held in consecutive years without the No. 1 pick being someone who played at an American college.

Clingan and UConn teammate Stephon Castle, along with Kentucky’s Reed Sheppard and Rob Dillingham, will make sure it’s a good night for some of college basketball’s usual powers as well.

But the big party could take place in France.

Sarr hasn’t confirmed whether he’s trained for Atlanta, but he might be talented enough that the Hawks should consider him no matter what happens with their first No. 1 pick since 1975 — and one they don’t Were not supposed to get after having only a 3% chance of winning the lottery.

Or maybe it’s Risacher, who believes his country will create more draft memories in the years to come.

“My view is that a lot of good players are going to come through and it’s amazing to see that we’re growing as a nation,” Risacher said, “and I’m looking forward to seeing more good French players come through in the draft.”

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA