Zaccharie Risacher Surges To The Top In Rookie Of The Year Odds After Career Best Night vs the Knicks

Could Risacher take home the Rookie of the Year Award this season?

Nov 6, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks forward Zaccharie Risacher (10) shoots over New York Knicks forward Mikal Bridges (25) during the second half at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images / Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

We are still in November in the NBA so any awards talk is mostly meaningless, but this year's Rookie of the Year race is already fascinating. There are several top picks that are not playing many minutes and some that have not put up many big performances.

The best rookie performance came last night and it was from No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher. Risacher has been the most under-disscussed No. 1 pick maybe ever and has not been at the top of the Rookie of the Year Awards until now.

Risacher finished last night's game vs the Knicks with 33 points on 11-18 shooting and 6-10 from three, while also grabbing seven rebounds, getting three steals, and not turning the ball over. It was the best performance by a rookie in the NBA this season and it came against one of the NBA's premier teams.

Zaccharie Risacher tallied 33 PTS, 7 REB, 3 AST, 2 BLK & 3 STL tonight, becoming just the 10th rookie in the NBA since at least 1973-74 (when BLK & STL were officially recorded) to finish a game with those minimums and the first rookie since Chris Webber (3/13/94) to do so.

— Hawks PR (@HawksPR) November 7, 2024

After his big game, Fanduel has him as the co-leader for the NBA Rookie of the Year Award, along with Grizzlies center Zach Edey. Fanduel has both players at +350 odds and then there is a slight drop off to the pair of Wizards rookies Bub Carrington and Alex Sarr at +650. After that, there is a huge gap to Lakers rookie Dalton Knecht at +2000. It is still very, very early, but Risacher had the best performance of any rookie this season and one that will be hard for even him to top.

Risacher was not the only player who played well last night. After getting off to a slow start, Trae Young finished with 23 points and 10 assists. Jalen Johnson flirted with a triple-double, scoring 23 points, grabbing 15 rebounds, and handing out seven assists. It was the trio that carried the Hawks across the finish line and got them their biggest win of the year.

They had to withstand a barrage of threes from the Knicks though to be able to get it done. After a tough first quarter, New York had an onslaught of threes that nearly won them the game. The Knicks were 22-47 from three (47&%) and they still lost. Karl-Anthony Towns had a huge night with 34 points and 16 rebounds, but they did not get nearly enough from their star point guard Jalen Brunson, who had 21 points and four assists. It was not a bad game from Brunson, but Dyson Daniels was making life hard on him all game. Outside of Deuce McBride, the Knicks bench did not have anything tonight.

Overall, this was an excellent win for the Hawks in what was a playoff-like atmosphere in November. They hope they can carry that momentum into the upcoming games and start to string some wins together.

Additional Links:

Hawks Star Trae Young Has Message for New York Knicks Fans After Hawks 121-116 Win

RECAP: Zaccharie Risacher has a Career Night As Hawks Defeat The Knicks 121-116