Zaccharie Risacher is still 20 years old and remains a fascinating player project: physique (2.03) as an agile forward, elasticfast and powerful; and with, theoretically, resources to be a forward total: to dribble, pass, shoot, penetrate, run in transition… It seems that he needs time if he is going to end up doing all that in the NBA, but unfortunately he has less, certainly in his current situation, than other young people in the development phase because he was chosen with the number 1 in the draft. And that weighs. And no matter how much that night (June 26, 2024) the mantra was repeated that It was not a promising generation at all. and? The first chosen would not have been so high at all (not even in the top 10?) in higher level years, The milestone remains there, in the resume and in the memory of the fans: the number 1 drafts have to lead teams to hopewith exceptions, tremendously needed. They are expected to be stars, in some cases generational pieces, transformativas. Risacher will surely never be that in the NBA. And it weighs, yes, and although it is not their fault, having been number 1 and no matter how much then, and it is already raining, this or that mantra was repeated… Things, once again, do not work like that. The results, it is inevitable, determine everything.
It is not that the Atlanta Hawks could have been accused, in this year and a half that has passed and because of what others are doing, of having made a mistake with other objectives with a specific name and surname: Alex Sarr, Risacher’s compatriot, is not succeeding splendidly and is barely progresses adequately in some filthy Wizards; Reed Sheppard is now beginning to stand out for the Rockets, still with obvious flaws that undermine his strengths and not even a starter on a team (with the highest aspiration, yes) that needs direction after Fred VanVleet’s injury in the summer. The closest thing to a star is Stephon Castle, who was the Rookie of the Year and who is advancing at a very good (increasingly better) pacealthough with ups and downs, in Spurs in which he has gotten into the hard core which should form, for many years, together with Dylan Harper (number 2 in 2025) and Victor Wembanyama, another compatriot of Risacher who was number 1 a year before (France had him in two drafts in a row, something historic), in 2023.
The others who point to important players (Matas Buzelis, Kel’el Ware, perhaps also Donovan Clingan, Zach Edey, Yves Missy, Ryan Dunn or Jared McCain) are also in the process, imperfect still. None, of course, has done enough for it to be shouted from the rooftops that he would have been a number 1 in the draft with stripes. A better choice than Risacher? Some maybe, but that’s not the central problem. The point is that, based on the disaster that Zion Williamson has been for the Pelicans (in 2019), These have been the numbers 1: Anthony Edwards, Cade Cunningham, Paolo Banchero, Victor Wembanyama and Cooper Flagg. Banchero, the one with the probably lowest profile, has defects that separate him, and also time to leave them behind, from mega-starred. But it is all star and internationally with the United States. He was Rookie of the Year and has already played top-notch games in the playoffs. Edwards, Cunningham, Wembanyama, Flagg son franchise playerstop level stars. The last two, player projects that can be historic. One was elected in 2023 (Spurs), the other in 2025 (Flagg). Between them, number 1 was Risacher. That is the real problem, inevitably.
Atlanta Hawks took number 1 in the wrong draft. And that’s not Risacher’s fault. Bad luck after the stroke of luck that was receiving that selection in a lottery in which they arrived as the tenth worst team of the previous season (2023-24), with only 3% having 1, whether or not it was very valuable, and only 14% choosing in the top 4. It was also the first No. 1 for the franchise since 1975. Then he selected David Thompson, the forward flying from North Carolina State who was Michael Jordan’s idol and who never played, not even a minute, with the Hawks jersey. He preferred the ABA and went to Denver, the team with which he jumped to the NBA in the merger (the merger of both leagues). Afterwards, he finished his career in Seattle.
The Hawks have never had luck with their high draft picks, if at all, since the lottery has existed (1985). The biggest stars he has drafted have been from pick 3: Pau Gasol (2001) and Luka Doncic (2018). And they were both traded on the same night of the draftin both cases in operations that did not end up paying off. Again, Risacher is not to blame for all of this, as he could, with all his circumstances and with empathy for his growth curve, have played better. In one season he averages 12 points and 3.4 rebounds. And their numbers are getting worse, the most worrying thing, as sophomore of what they were like rookie. Quin Snyder, or so it seems, trusts him less and less. Play less now than a year ago and his coach seems, at times, obliged to keep him on track because he was a 1 in the draft. But he has begun to not exceed 20 minutes on many nights and it is difficult not to see that Snyder is more comfortable with Vit Krejci (25-year-old Czech who played in Zaragoza) and his best outside shot on the court.
Risacher hasn’t gotten his three-point shot, which has potential, to stabilize. Nor does his defense, with potential, be significant. He plays too many mediocre, inconsequential games. And beyond Krejci, his place in the rotation is increasingly less clear with the hierarchy that Jalen Johnson (who is going to all star although he defends worse the better he attacks: it happens a lot) and the arrival in the last two summers of Dyson Daniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker.
A crossroads in Atlanta
And to all this we must add that it is being a very disappointing season for a team that never seems to get away from 50% wins and that felt before the start with legitimate options to give a good stretch and fight hard in an East without very defined hierarchies in the area medium/high. He type block on the starting grid (Trae Young, Dyson Daniels, Zac Risacher, Jalen Johnson, Kristaps Porzingis as a quintet and a second unit with Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Onyeka Okongwu and Luke Kennard as main players) has only played three games with everyone available. Porzingis, who has once again gone from strategic to totally expendable in record time (it is no longer new), he has only been healthy for a handful of games. And Trae Young suffered a knee injury that has only added to the confusion: without him, the Hawks survived just fine (13-10). Since their return, they have lost six games in a row and in all of them they have received, horror, more than 125 points. The defense, which had to improve this season as an obvious vertex of growth, is eighteenth in the NBA… but the fourth worst since November 25. In that month or so, only four teams concede more three-pointers to rivals who shoot 40% from the three-point line against the Hawks.
So the Hawks look like a team again. play inwithout much more ceiling or lower floor; with doubts about Trae’s leadership and pending tasks before the market closes on February 5. In addition, they have two first round draft picks in 2026 and one seemed (the best of the Pelicans and Bucks) a candy that could even be worth number 1 in the draft. But the improvement of the Pelicans has tempered that euphoria a bit, which is still alive. The other pick It will be, things from previous transfer mechanisms, the second between his own and those of the Spurs and Cavaliers.
The rumors are heating up: Trae Young is no longer untouchable on a team that needs to improve on defense and rebound more. Anthony Davis appears as a target that several reliable sources agree on, so there is something. It is said that the Mavericks want young players and contracts that end in June and free up salary mass. Trae would not enter that operation (maybe another one?), but maybe a Risacher who, at 20 years old, would be a low-risk bet for the Mavs who need players who match Cooper Flagg’s growth arc. The Porzingis and Kennard contracts could make the deal easier. The Hawks have two non-negotiable red lines: Jalen Johnson and that Pelicans pick that aims so high.
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The journalist Marc Stein assures that Risacher jumps to the market because the Hawks “are disappointed with his progression so far, which is less than expected.” It also makes it clear, because they have to negotiate something in Georgia, that number 1 of 2024 does not It will be given away and would only come out “in the appropriate operation.” In any case, and that is the news, is on the market in a franchise that is not in the situation it expected to be in and that looks with bitterness, from the managers to the fans, at that number 1 in the draft lost between Wembanyama and Flagg. Again: it’s not Risacher’s fault, but it is what it is.
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