2024 NBA Draft Grades: Hawks Receive Low Grade From ESPN For Their Draft

Atlanta chose Zaccharie Risacher with the No. 1 pick and then drafted Nikola Durisic in the second round

Jun 26, 2024; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Zaccharie Risacher poses for photos with NBA commissioner Adam Silver after being selected first overall by the Atlanta Hawks in the first round of the 2024 NBA Draft at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports / Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

The 2024 NBA Draft is now in the books. The Atlanta Hawks started things off by staying at No. 1 and taking French prospect Zaccharie Risacher with the No. 1 overall pick. The next day, Atlanta traded young forward AJ Griffin to the Houston Rockets for the 44th pick and from there, they traded up to No. 43 to select Nikola Durisic. In a draft that was widely panned as not having a lot of top talent, the Hawks came away with two intriguing talents.

When it comes to draft grades though, the Hawks have not exactly been meeting high marks for who they selected. Bleacher Report gave the Hawks a "B" for taking Risacher with the No. 1 pick and ESPN's Kevin Pelton gave the Hawks a "B" for their entire draft haul:

"In a draft without a consensus No. 1 prospect, Atlanta went with perhaps the closest thing in Risacher, whose size and shooting fills a need in the Hawks' future starting five alongside power forward Jalen Johnson and whichever point guard the team keeps.

Because Risacher did relatively little to fill out the box score playing in France, I had him ranked behind Reed Sheppard, Alex Sarr and Donovan Clingan in terms of potential. Given the eye of the beholder nature of this year's draft, however, evaluating Risacher as the top prospect was reasonable.

Originally, Atlanta held only the No. 1 pick. The Hawks added a second-round pick Thursday in a deal sending AJ Griffin to the Houston Rockets and took Serbian guard Nikola Djurisic, the second-lowest rated draft pick in my stats-based projections."

Your grade of the Hawks comes down to what you think of Risacher as the No. 1 pick. While that might not have been who I would have chosen, I do think it is a perfectly reasonable pick. Risacher does provide size, shooting, and the ability to guard multiple positions, skillsets that are coveted around the league.

When Hawks general manager Landry Fields met with the media after the first round of the draft concluded, he pointed out that Risacher's versatility on the defensive end and his ability to shoot were huge factors in the Hawks liking him as a prospect:

"Well, you start by what you see and that is he is 6'10 and got the ability to play on both sides of the ball, has the ability to defend, a versatile defender, a really good shooter, and a high IQ type of player. You know, the amount of development that he has had up until this point is fantastic, he is still only 19, he will be 19 all of next year and I have consistently said all of the important qualities for us in the past, about those types of players and who we want in the building at the end of the day and he possesses a significant amount of those"

Only time will tell if the Hawks made the right decision.