ESPN's Jonathan Givony and Zach Lowe Discuss Hawks Plans With the No. 1 Pick In Latest Episode Of The Lowe Post

Could the Hawks take UConn center Donovan Clingan with the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft?

Apr 8, 2024; Glendale, AZ, USA; Connecticut Huskies center Donovan Clingan (32) celebrates defeating the Purdue Boilermakers in the national championship game of the Final Four of the 2024 NCAA Tournament at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports / Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

The first round of the NBA Draft is three weeks away. While this draft has been picked apart for not having a clear No. 1 pick, there is going to be a lot of intrigue due to the way that the lottery shook out. Atlanta jumped from No. 10 to No. 1 and this adds another layer of intrigue to what is going to be a critical offseason for the Hawks. They have to figure out what to do with the Trae Young/ Dejounte Murray backcourt, as well as other pieces on the other roster.

On the latest episode of the Lowe Post Podcast, ESPN draft analyst Jonathan Givony and Zach Lowe discussed the top of the draft and what the Hawks might end up doing:

"And so especially Atlanta, I think this kicks off a really long process for them where its like, wow, we're drafting No. 1, this is amazing. And then its, holy s***, now we actually have to decide who to take No. 1. And it's not like one of those years where its like, Victor (Wembanyama) at the top, boom, done. Or Anthony Davis, LeBron, whatever, Zion.

There is no clear consensus. I have heard that they are trying to invite between six to eight guys in, but there is also some talk that maybe they are going to look at moving down, taking multiple swings at this, which I think could be an interesting play in this draft. They have a lot of things to figure out internally first, Trae Young, Dejounte Murray, Clint Capela, De'Andre Hunter. There's so many moving parts on their roster that, you know, how do they view themselves?

Are they, you know, does this kick off, you know, potential rebuilding process where maybe they are looking at trading one of Trae Young or Dejounte Murray or both? And you know, what is the appetite there? You know, first of all, in the front office and then with the coaching staff, ownership, you know, there's going to be a lot of voices there in terms of what direction they should head in, which is normal. I mean, every NBA team goes through that process for, you know, where are we at? Where do things stand and where are we going to be and how do we view it? And I've been told that it is going to take time to figure out this process and sift through the options, you know, figure it out, you know, what to do.

And I have been saying along, you know, even from, you know, our very first mock draft in February of 2023, we said something like, this might be a draft where we don't know who the No. 1 pick is until Adam Silver steps up to the podium and announces the pick, which is rare. You know, we saw that, you know, a couple of years ago with Paolo Banchero, Chet Holmgren, and Jabari Smith. But usually, you know who the No. 1 pick is going to be. You know what the top five is going to look like. And we really have no clue. Part of that is, you know, one of the guys at the top, Zaccharie Risacher, just finished his season. You, know, instead of coming over here to start his pre-draft process, workouts, and, you know, getting ready for interviews, he had to fly to France and Italy.

So I've used the lull between the conference finals and the finals and some of the days in between games to start making calls. And I just, everyone is like, no one has any idea what Atlanta is going to do. Everyone just tells me that it is too early. Atlanta does not know what Atlanta is going to do."

Before they wrapped up their conversation on the Hawks, Givony and Lowe talked about UConn center Donovan Clingan and where he might go, with Givony mentioning that Hawks head coach Quin Snyder does like Clingan:

"Yeah, so we have Donovan Clingan ranked No. 3 on our big board. You can make a case for him as high as the second best prospect or even the No. 1 prospect. I have heard that Atlanta likes Donovan Clingan. Quin Snyder especially like Donovan Clingan and so Atlanta had, I think, one of the worst defenses in the NBA the past few years and one great way to fix that is to draft a guy with a 9'7 standing reach who is the best shot blocker in this draft and who anchored a national championship defensethe past two years."

It is going to be fascinating to see how all of this unfolds. If Atlanta thinks Clingan is the top player in the draft, will they try to move back and acquire more picks and draft him? Do they just take him No. 1? Snyder liking Clingan is not a huge surprise given that Clingan's most popular player comp is Rudy Gobert, who Snyder coached in Utah for several seasons. Zaccharie Risacher seems to be firmly in the mix and French big man Alex Sarr has been mentioned as well, though he was not brought up on this particular episode.

These next few weeks and this entire decision process is going to be crucial for the Hawks. Let's see what transpires.