2024 NBA Draft: Hawks GM Landry Fields Reveals When They Decided On Zaccharie Risacher as the No. 1 Pick

Atlanta selected Zaccharie Risacher with the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft

Jun 28, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks first overall draft pick Zaccharie Risacher poses for a photo with general manager Landry Fields at the Emory Sports Medicine Complex. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports / Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

It was a huge week for the Atlanta Hawks franchise.

After winning the 2024 NBA Draft Lottery, the Hawks had nearly two months to decide who they wanted to take with the No. 1 overall pick and at the end of all of it, they selected French forward Zaccharie Risacher. It felt like the Hawks cast a pretty wide net when it came to the No. 1 pick and during today's introductory press conference, Hawks general manager went into detail about when they settled on Risacher as the No. 1 choice:

"It started off with us getting the No. 1 overall pick, which is the reason you win the lottery, that is what it was and we went through this entire process. I credit our group for the amount of work and effort and miles for both of these guys frankly to identify who they are and what they are about. It really came down to the last few days and us getting together as a group and we narrowed it down to two and at the end of, we chose Zaccharie as the guy we wanted to build with. It was really close throughout."

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"

Risacher is a 6'8, 204 LBS wing player who fills a big need for Atlanta. He has two-way versatility and performed well in his league playoffs since the lottery. He is a plug-and-play type of forward that would fit on the Hawks as either their starting 2 or 3.