Atlanta Hawks select Zacharie Risacher with No. 1 pick in 2024 NBA Draft

The Atlanta Hawks have officially selected French basketball player Zaccharie Risacher with the first overall pick in the 2024 NBA draft. Risacher, 19, is a winger who spent the 2023 season with JL Bourg in France. He was born in Spain but grew up in France.

Risacher was one of two French prospects expected to be high in the 2024 draft. He and Alexandre Sarr were both linked to the Hawks as potential top picks. However, in the end, Atlanta opted for Risacher over Sarr or a possible trade.

Sarr hasn’t worked out with the Hawks and was asked about it Tuesday before the draft. He smartly dodged the question, simply saying that he trusted his agent’s decision-making.

“I have a great team around me: Bill Duffy and WME. They’ve been through all this before and I trust them,” Sarr said. said Tuesday. “I’m not going to get into the details of where I trained or where I didn’t. But I did my best in my training and that’s all I can control.”

It’s unclear how much impact this had on Atlanta’s decision, but regardless, Sarr remains on the board while Risacher is now in Atlanta – a team built to compete as soon as this season.

Risacher joins star point guard Trae Young and guard Dejounte Murray on Atlanta’s roster for now, although there have been numerous rumors of both players in potential trades this offseason.

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Risacher will be in Atlanta, however, and he will look to bring his unique skillset to the Hawks. Risacher is a 6-foot-8 forward who averaged 11.1 points and four rebounds per game last year with JL Bourg. He shot 47 percent from the field, 38.7 percent from deep and 70.7 percent from the free throw line.

Risacher comes from the same league where Victor Wembanyama played in France. Wembanyama was selected with the first overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft by the San Antonio Spurs and had a historic rookie year. He averaged 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 3.6 blocks and 1.2 steals in less than 30 minutes per game. He unanimously won the Rookie of the Year award and finished second in voting for the Defensive Player of the Year award.

Risacher isn’t expected to have the immediate impact that Wembanyama had in his first year in the NBA – but he joins Wemby as back-to-back French prospects selected No. 1 overall in the NBA draft .