2024 NBA Mock Draft: Zaccharie Risacher Remains the No. 1 Pick In ESPN's Latest Mock Draft

Who will the Atlanta Hawks Select With the No. 1 Pick in the 2024 NBA Draft?

Will the Hawks select Zaccharie Risacher With the No. 1 pick? / CBS Sports

One more week until the Atlanta Hawks finally make a selection with the No. 1 overall pick.

There has been plenty of debate about what the Hawks are going to do next Wednesday night and until they actually make the pick or make a trade, the guessing is still going to happen.

The three prospects that have gotten the most conversation with the No. 1 pick have been Alex Sarr, Zaccharie Risacher, and Donovan Clingan. Risacher and Clingan have dominated a lot of the conversation as of late and it does seem that if Atlanta stays there, it will be one of those two players.

In the latest ESPN Mock Draft from Jonathan Givony, he still has the Hawks selecting Risacher, but he dropped some interesting notes along the way:

"The Hawks casted a wide net through the pre-draft process, aggressively recruiting nearly every prospect in the lottery for workouts while also bringing in players projected outside that range, indicating the team is preparing for different strategies depending on what it learns and potential trade opportunities.

While it appears the Hawks are far from making final decisions, many teams say their intel indicates Risacher remains the favorite at No. 1, partially because of the dual-track flexibility he offers of either remaining competitive next season or tapping into his upside as the type of big, versatile wing that is difficult to acquire outside the draft. The Hawks will bring Risacher in for a workout Wednesday, his first with the team thus far, which should help add clarity regarding his standing.

The Hawks have been unable to bring Alex Sarr in for a workout to this point, but the door remains open for that to potentially happen. Clingan appears to be Risacher's main rival at No. 1. His workout -- where he shot the ball extremely well, showed surprisingly good passing ability operating out of short rolls and was impressive both in film study and in interviews -- helped his draft standing and makes him as possible sleeper selection here, as we've discussed for several weeks.

The status of Atlanta's Trae Young is the big question hovering over the franchise. One option that has been widely discussed among teams is the possibility of the Hawks reacquiring their unprotected 2025 first-round pick from San Antonio (perhaps in a swap for the No. 4 pick), which would give the team far more flexibility for rebuilding. That would currently be difficult to fathom, with their next three draft picks (2025, 2026 swap rights and 2027) owned by the Spurs.

The Hawks worked out Reed Sheppard last week and Clingan before that, two attractive options at No. 4 should they elect to slide back. Atlanta also brought in Matas Buzelis, Cody Williams and Ron Holland for workouts."

This would indicate the Hawks have done their homework on this draft class and are preparing for all scenarios. I would still not close the door on them picking Sarr, though it does appear that is getting to be more of a longshot by the day. He could still be brought in for a workout or Atlanta could have met him in priviate.

On yesterday's episode of NBA Today, Givony shed some light on what is happening this week in Atlanta:

"What are the Atlanta Hawks going to do at No. 1? They are going to workout Zaccharie Risacher tomorrow, that is the first time that any NBA team will get a look at him live in their building. They worked out Donovan Clingan and they loved what they saw, Quin Snyder put him through a detailed film session, he shot the ball really well, he had a great interview, he showed some ability out of short rolls and so they have a tough decision there. The question is do they slide back possibly to 4 with San Antonio? The Spurs own their pick next year, unprotected, can you get the best of both worlds, slide down to 4 and get Donovan Clingan or Risacher and get your pick back ?"

Risacher and Clingan have been the two most talked about prospects in the last couple of weeks after Sarr was the early favorite to go No. 1 right after the lottery. While Sarr has become the least talked about of the three prospects, Hawks general manager Landry Fields shared his thoughts on Sarr yesterday during his pre-draft media availablity:

"He is a good player, projected to go pretty high from what I have heard. He has a lot of tools that you would want at the NBA level."

While Sarr is talked as being a high-level player on the defensive end of the floor, there are a lot of questions about his offensive game. Fields was asked about that and what he thought about Sarr's potential progression on that end:

"I think with Sarr and the other guys, you are going to see some areas that they have to grow in. So for a guy that we bring in, we are going to think very highly of"

Fields was also asked about the possibility of trading back and getting multiple picks versus staying at No. 1 and here is what he had to say:

"Yeah, so we as a group have looked at a ton of different scenarios, keep the pick, trade back in the draft, and all of the things that you are talking about and where we are right now is that we will pick No. 1, but yeah I don't think it would be wise for us to not go over those scenarios, but there have been a ton that we have gone over and we will continuously go over those as well."

When asked if he was committed to using the No. 1 pick, here was Fields answer:

"Today, we are planning on picking at No. 1"

It seems like everything is on the table for the Hawks and a lot can change in the next week. Fields also talked about how locked in the Hawks board is right now and what it would take for a player to jump another and get to No. 1:

"I would say that a week ago, it was wider than it is now, the board is definetly shaping up and tiering itself out. In order to be No. 1, it has to be a guy that we see as a great fit for us, not just for the next day, but for the future as well."

Fields mentioned that they are going to bring in more prospects for workouts this week as well. It is going to be an interesting week or so for Fields and the rest of the front office as they try and sort out what they want to do with the No. 1 pick.