Hawks take Zaccharie Risacher with No. 1 pick, second straight year a player from France is first
Zaccharie Risacher waits for the start of the NBA basketball draft, Wednesday, June 26, 2024, in New York. Credit: AP/Julia Nikhinson
NEW YORK — The Atlanta Hawks took Zaccharie Risacher with the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft Wednesday night, the second straight year a player from France was the first player selected.
Risacher doesn't come with the enormous height or hype of Victor Wembanyama, the towering center who went to San Antonio last year and went on to win the Rookie of the Year award.
But the Hawks saw him as the best choice in what has been viewed as a draft absent of elite talent.
The 19-year-old forward was the winner of the best young player award in the French League last season and beat out big men Alex Sarr, a fellow Frenchman, and UConn's Donovan Clingan in the race to be the top pick.
When he did, it made NBA draft history. This is the first time that the draft has gone consecutive years without the No. 1 pick being someone who played at an American college.