Hawks GM Landry Fields comments on potential No. 1 pick Alex Sarr refusing to practice with the team

There is only one day left until the 2024 NBA Draft. After a month of speculation, the world will finally know what the Atlanta Hawks are going to do with the No. 1 pick. Since winning the NBA Draft Lottery, people around the league haven’t been able to pinpoint exactly what the Hawks will do. After the lottery, French great Alex Sarr was the presumed favorite for the No. 1 pick, but that has changed. There have been a lot of rumors about Sarr not coming to practice with the Hawks and in a radio interview today, Hawks general manager Landry Fields addressed this topic:

“He was supposed to come to practice. We planned it, and then he refused to come to practice.”

Fields went on to say that he knew which teams Sarr had trained for, but he didn’t share that during the interview. Fields was also asked if he was bothered by Sarr not coming to practice for Atlanta:

“I’m not very offended by that because it’s nothing new. It’s something officers do.”

He didn’t reveal much more about the situation, including Sarr’s explanation for why he wouldn’t be practicing with the Hawks.

Yesterday, in an episode of the Hoop Collective podcast, ESPN NBA analyst Brian Windhorst invited draft analyst Jonathan Givony and they talked about the situation with Sarr:

“He doesn’t really seem to want to play for the Hawks, even though he would be the No. 1 pick. He chose not to come practice for them and one wonders…now the Hawks have said privately that it was…they met him at the NBA Combine, they did all their research on him, they saw him play, they took his physicals, they took his tests, they did. talked to people as coaches, they have They have done their due diligence They say they would still take him and that he is in consideration for the No. 1 pick, along with Risacher and maybe a or. two other players. Naturally, people think about Eli Manning here and the idea that you don’t want to be the No. 1 pick.

Windhorst then asked Givony what he thought about the situation:

“I’ve been told it’s not so much that Alex Sarr doesn’t want to play for Atlanta but rather for the Washington Wizards and maybe that’s semantics, maybe that’s polite mannerism to say it, but when you look at the Washington Wizards depth chart and compare it to the Atlanta Hawks depth chart with Jalen Johnson at the four, De’Andre Hunter, Onyeka Okongwu, Clint Capela, I see their point of view where they look at the Wizards’ depth and they say, Marvin Bagley, Richaun Holmes, Kyle Kuzma… he probably sees himself as a trio Alex Sarr probably looks at that and says the opportunity to spend some minutes and. playing a really important role is really appealing.”

This talk of the Hawks still being interested in Sarr is a possible ploy to get the Wizards to move up on the No. 1 pick. It’s possible that the Hawks view him as the No. 1 player in this class and take him despite the fact that he hasn’t come to practice and would rather play for the Wizards.

During last Monday’s preliminary press conference, Hawks general manager Landry Fields had this to say about Sarr:

“He’s a good player, who should go pretty high from what I’ve heard. He has a lot of tools that you would want at the NBA level.”

While Sarr is touted as a top player on the defensive court, many questions arise about his offensive game. Fields was asked about this and what he thought about Sarr’s potential progression to that end:

“I think with Sarr and the other guys, you’re going to see some areas that they need to grow in. So for a guy that we bring in, we’re going to think very highly of him.”

With this news regarding Sarr, French striker Zaccharie Risacher is the presumed favorite to take first place in the general rankings tomorrow. A lot can happen between now and then, so until Atlanta makes a pick and announces they’re keeping him, be prepared for anything.