Hawks’ first-round pick Zaccharie Risacher reveals his ‘Welcome to the NBA’ moment

This year’s first-round pick, Zaccharie Risacher, will make his debut with the Atlanta Hawks this week.

After being drafted a few weeks ago by the Atlanta Hawks, Risacher will take the court this Friday night when the Hawks take on the Wizards in this year’s NBA Summer League. Before leaving for the Summer League, the Hawks held a press conference and Risacher was able to speak to the media for the first time since his introductory press conference. One of the questions Risacher was asked was if he had a “welcome to the NBA” moment where he realized he had made it into the league and he had this to say:

“I don’t really know. I think it would be when I got my jersey with my number and the Hawks on it. Maybe when I put my jersey on and it was a proud moment for me. It’s a dream come true for me to be able to walk into the facility and put that jersey on and have those great people around me, it was unbelievable.”

Risacher went on to say that while it was a good time, the real work was just beginning.

Many other topics were discussed during today’s press conference, including the recent Dejounte Murray trade.

Despite the high price paid and the minimal results obtained after the Murray trade, Hawks general manager Landry Fields did not consider the trade a failure:

“Not at all. Absolutely not. I think at the time we had the opportunity to go get a good player and where we’re at, we wanted to take a chance and take it to the next level of what we were trying to do. I think at that point, it’s kind of what I said earlier, we were faced with another tough decision in moving him, but no, I don’t see it as a failure at all, especially when you look at, okay, what are the things that we learned from this, what are the things that worked well, what are the things that didn’t work well? But I think looking back, we would definitely take that risk again.”

After giving up so much and only making the playoffs once (very briefly), it’s hard to call this anything but a failure. The Hawks are in an even tougher position because of this trade and will have to hope that their young players like Zaccharie Risacher, Jalen Johnson, Kobe Bufkin and Dyson Daniels step up to the plate alongside Trae Young.

When asked about Daniels and what made him a great fit for the Hawks, here’s what Fields had to say:

“His defensive versatility is something that really stands out. His shot has improved, which is something we think can improve over time as he develops. So we’re able to help him stay the course defensively and make some adjustments offensively.”

When asked what went into the decision to trade Murray, here’s what Fields had to say:

“We’re just evaluating where we’re at. It was a tough decision, it was a challenge, we knew where we wanted to be, we were going to have to make some tough decisions, we weren’t at the point where we felt like we could continue with what we had, so we wanted to reshape some things and that’s an unfortunate part of the business. Dejounte is a fantastic player and we’re excited for him and his journey in New Orleans and we’re also really happy for the guys that we got back. We also got some assets back that are going to be useful to us. We wish him nothing but the best, he and his family have been nothing but great to us.”