Potential No. 1 pick Alex Sarr comments on rumors he won’t practice for Atlanta Hawks

The 2024 NBA Draft is almost 24 hours away and what exactly the Atlanta Hawks are doing is a mystery.

The Atlanta Hawks have been on the clock since the day of their shocking NBA Draft Lottery victory, there has been endless speculation about what exactly the Hawks will do tomorrow. The three most mentioned names are French prospects Alex Sarr and Zacharie Risacher as well as UConn center Donovan Clingan. There has also been a lot of speculation about whether the Hawks could trade this pick, with the San Antonio Spurs being the team most linked to the trade. Although this draft was rejected because he had no superstar prospects, there is still the potential for a wild night due to a lot of uncertainty.

Sarr is the prospect that many league analysts believe has the highest upside potential. It seems like he would be a great fit in Atlanta, but the Hawks haven’t been able to land Sarr and there are reports he would rather play for the Wizards than the Hawks. During today’s press briefing, Sarr was asked about this and here is what he had to say:

“Yeah, I mean, I have a great team around me, Bill Duffy (Sarr’s agent) and WME and they’ve been through it all, I trust them and I’m not going to go into detail about it. Where I’ve worked and where I haven’t, but I’ve done my best in my workouts and that’s all I can.Yes.”

Sarr was then asked if he wanted to be first choice or not:

“I mean sure, as a competitor, you know, but for me it’s more important to get drafted, you know, at the end of the day, that’s what’s most important and you just have to be grateful. “

Next, Sarr was asked how he might fit in in Atlanta or Washington:

“I think I can have an impact on winning any team I come into, I think I’m pretty confident in that. My versatility defensively and offensively, my ability to play in different spots, I think that makes me a player who has an impact on winning.”

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 a polite way 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.”

Whatever happens tomorrow night, the Hawks front office needs to make sure they make the right decision. This is a critical point for the franchise.