2024 NBA Draft: Updated Odds For the No. 1 Pick With Two Weeks To Go Until The Draft

Who Will the Atlanta Hawks Draft With the No. 1 Overall Pick in the upcoming NBA Draft?

Potential No. 1 Pick Alex Sarr / Detroit Free Press

The 2024 NBA Draft is now two weeks away.

It feels like a lifetime ago since the Atlanta Hawks won the 2024 NBA Draft Lottery, but now there are just two weeks left for Atlanta to make one of the most important decisions of their offseason. The Hawks only had a 3% chance to win the lottery, but now they have a chance to add a potentially helpful piece to the team.

As I am sure anyone who follows the draft or the NBA in general, this draft has been criticized for not having a superstar level talent like Victor Wembanyama or Zion Williamson. Ever since last year's draft ended, the 2024 NBA Draft has been talked about as not being very good and being the worst since at least 2013. I think some of that has been overblown, but there is not a sure thing in this draft, leaving the door open for some surprises.

Ever since the Hawks won the lottery, the odds on favorite for the No. 1 pick has been French big man Alex Sarr, who has been considered the top player in this draft for the past few months. With two weeks to go, Sarr is still the favorite to go No. 1 overall at Caesar's Sportsbook.

Here are the No. 1 pick odds at Caesar's with two weeks until the NBA Draft:

1. Alex Sarr: -200

2. Zaccharie Risacher: +185

3. Donovan Clingan: +700

4. Ron Holland: +1500

5. Reed Sheppard: +1800

I included the top five in here, but I think the way things are going, Atlanta is likely going to be taking one of Sarr, Risacher, or Clingan.

In the past couple of weeks, the odds for Sarr and Risacher have not changed, but Clingan has seen his odds rise a little bit.

Clingan is regarded as the best college player in this draft and some view him as the safest player in the draft because of his perceived ability to be a high-level defender right away and for the potential to grow his game on the offensive end. He has drawn comparisons to four-time defensive player of the year Rudy Gobert, who played for current Hawks head coach Quin Snyder when they were in Utah. I think a Gobert comparison is lofty, but it is not hard to see where people get that idea from.

The Hawks were one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA last season, so it seems like a natural fit to take a high-level shot blocker and defender right? Clingan is 7'3 with a 7'7 wingspan and if you go back and watch the elite eight matchup between UConn and Illinois (his best game tape in my opinion), the Fighting Illini were not able to get anywhere near the basket and Clingan was just terrorizing anyone that tried to shoot in the paint.

Clingan averaged 13.0 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 2.5 BPG, and 1.5 APG on 63% shooting from the field and he was 2-8 (25%) on three's. As a lob threat, Clingan would be impactful right away on offense.

The defensive rebounding and the passing abilities that he shows would also be awesome fits in Atlanta. Atlanta has some players such as Jalen Johnson that are effective in cutting to the basket and Clingan's ability to find them would be an awesome thing for the Hawks to have. I am not here to say that he is the next Nikola Jokic when it comes to passing, but his ability to find open players and get the ball to them is pretty high-level for someone his size.

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