Atlanta Hawks Officially Announce 2024 Summer League Roster

No. 1 Pick Zaccharie Risacher will be playing in the Atlanta Hawks Summer league

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

The Atlanta Hawks begin Summer League play next Friday night against the Washington Wizards and the Hawks have now officially set their summer league roster. Headlining things for Atlanta is 2024 No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher.

Hawk Boy Summer pic.twitter.com/7cOUxSSGPR

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) July 5, 2024

The other players on the Hawks roster include Miles Norris, 2023 first round pick Kobe Bufkin, 2024 second round pick Nikola Durisic, Jordan Bowden, Jarkel Joiner, Emmitt Matthews, 2024 second round pick Mouhamed Gueye, Dylan Windler, Keaton Wallace, Moses Wood, Nick Ongenda, and Rob Baker.

A lot of eyes are going to be on Risacher this Summer, but he is not the only one. Bufkin, Gueye, and Durisic are all aiming for roster spots and the chance to be an impact player on the Hawks this season off the bench and they are going to be players to watch closely. There is always a chance at a surprise as well and someone impresses enough to make a push for a roster spot.

Hawks assistant coach Ronald Nored will serve as Atlanta’s Summer League head coach. This is the third time Nored has been at the helm of a Summer League team, as he served as head coach in 2022 with the Indiana Pacers and in 2019 with the Charlotte Hornets. Nored will be joined by Steve Klei, Reggis Onwukamuche, Jacob Porter, Ekpe Udoh, and Conner Varney as assistant coaches on this year’s team.

The Hawks begin play next Friday vs Washington but also have matchups with the Spurs, Lakers, and Bulls. Each team will play at least five games, including four games from July 12-19.  After each team’s first four games, the top four teams will advance to participate in the playoffs, beginning with a semifinal doubleheader on Sunday, July 21 at 2 p.m. ET and 4 p.m. ET on ESPN.  The two winning teams from the semifinal games will meet in the championship game on Monday, July 22 at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN.

The four playoff teams will be determined by winning percentage in each team’s first four games, with tiebreak criteria available here. The 26 teams that do not advance to the four-team playoff will play a fifth game on either Saturday, July 20, or Sunday, July 21.

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. First things first though, he has to get off to a great start this Summer and that begins next Friday.