2024 NBA Draft: Atlanta Hawks Select Nikola Durisic With the 43th Pick

Atlanta traded back into the second round to select Nikola Durisic with the 43rd pick

2024 NBA Draft Prospect Nikola Durisic / Eurooops

After taking Zaccharie Risacher with the No. 1 pick last night, the Atlanta Hawks did not have any picks coming into the second round of the 2024 NBA Draft. Earlier today, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski was the first to report that the Hawks traded former 1st-round pick AJ Griffin to the Houston Rockets for the 44th pick. Atlanta then moved up from 44 to 43, giving cash considerations to the Miami Heat. With that pick, the Atlanta Hawks selected Nikola Durisic, a 6'7 wing player who played in Serbia.

Miami is picking Nikola Durisic at No. 43 and trading him to Atlanta, sources say. https://t.co/9EpHPHoglF

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 27, 2024

There is always a chance that the Hawks could stash Durisic, but that is not known at this time.

Durisic is a strong, creative player with the ball in his hands, but he is going to have to develop his off ball game to have a role in the league. If Atlanta does keep him, I think he is likely to see minutes in the G-League. Atlanta has done a great job of developing guys in College Park so this could be an ideal spot for Durisic.

Durisic was the No. 37 player on Sam Vecenie's big board at The Athletic. Here is what Vecenie said were his strengths coming into the draft:

STRENGTHS: Djurišić is big for a creative wing scorer: 6-7 without shoes with a 6-8 wingspan and an 8-6 1/2 standing reach. He has some bounce and lift and a degree of shiftiness. His 10.63 lane agility time was among the best at the combine, especially at his size. He also has strength he can access as he powers to the rim. Creativity is key within his game. Djurišić is very sharp in the way that he attacks defenders, and there is suddenness to his movements. He’s constantly aggressive and probing, trying to make things happen. He wants to push the pace and the tempo of the game forward with speed and craft. He’s confident. He thinks he’s the best player every single time he takes the court.

Investing in Djurišić is investing in the idea that he can be a big wing creator long-term. Djurišić is very crafty off the bounce in the way he attacks the game. He tries to put pressure on you. That works best out of ball screens right now. He loves to attack and try to get downhill and is also creative in trying to find creases. He knows how to split ball screens and is also good at stringing out the big when he can to try to find a mismatch. He’ll patiently wait for the first-level defenders to make their move, then try to attack them with suddenness. He can beat bigs off the bounce in isolation. In that vein, he is a three-level threat. He’s willing to stop and pop from behind the 3-point line, pull up from the midrange, or try to drive all the way to the rim. There’s an unpredictable cadence in terms of the way that he attacks that makes him slithery and difficult to stay in front of. There’s some upside in terms of being a second-side creator.

A bet on Djurišić is also a bet on his passing ability. Djurišić clearly has some real vision in this regard. He’s good at drawing defenders toward him and then finding angles to get kickouts or drop-off passes to players in the dunker spot. I think he’s better when he makes quicker decisions and moves it along faster. Again, his creativity shines through here at times. He throws some fun wrap-around and live-dribble, one-handed passes, and he can do it at speed. At Mega this season, he averaged nearly four assists per game.

Djurišić also improved significantly as a finisher this season. He made 58.2 percent of his attempts at the rim in half-court settings, per Synergy, a strong number considering many were self-created in the second half of the season. His unpredictability aids him in generating paint touches. He also does a good job of converting that creativity into power; he leaps well of one foot to catch defenders before they’ve fully established their positioning. He doesn’t sky, but he can finish above the rim through traffic. He had 25 dunks this year, including 15 in half-court settings. I liked the way he gathered the ball when finishing this year. He had a few spin moves to get separation, as well as some difficult Euro steps around players in traffic. He showed improvement as an off-ball mover and cutter this season, putting himself in more dangerous positions off screens or in early offense.

Djurišić has clean mechanics in his upper half that make you believe he’ll be a shooter at some point. He has confidence every single time he pulls up. As mentioned above, he is a legit three-level threat — very good ball pickup and clean balance getting into the pull-up. He has a chance to be an on-ball scorer. Beyond that, he’s also a solid driver all the way to the rim. Given how many of his shots are at the basket, his 53.5 percentage mark at the rim is OK for a teenager at this level when he’s getting there about three times per game. It’s easy to imagine Djurišić as a fun dribble-pass-shoot weapon at nearly 6-8 in shoes. He draws contact and fouls. Djurišić is an active defender. He wants to play hard and try to disrupt things. The size, strength and athleticism are there to potentially make it work on that end."