NEW YORK — With the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NBA draft Wednesday, the Hawks selected French teenager Zaccharie Risacher.
After weeks of doing their homework, evaluating prospects and getting to know them, the Hawks have landed on the guy who they hope will become a long-time contributor.
“We’re thrilled about taking Zaccharie,” general manager Landry Fields said in a statement released by the team early Thursday morning. “The amount of development he has had up until this point is fantastic and he’s only 19. We couldn’t be more excited to welcome him and his family to Atlanta.”
The 6-foot-9, 215-pound Risacher, who played in France’s top professional league last season, is expected to give the team versatility on both ends of the floor and they can move him up and down the lineup between the two and the four.
“I’m a versatile player,” Risacher told reporters. “I feel like I can fit easily into this team. I can’t wait to figure out what is going to be my role or my goals, or, you know, just to make sure we win games. So I don’t know yet, but I know that I can do a lot of things. Defend multiple positions, grabbing some rebounds, finishing strong, being aggressive, shooting threes obviously.
“I think that’s going to be -- that’s a part of my game. That’s something that I need to keep it up for helping the team to win the next season, because I know that we are going to have to shoot the ball. And that’s it.”
But the 19-year-old hasn’t thought too far into the future though as he reflects on the emotions of making it to the league. Risacher comes from a basketball family where his father Stephane played professionally in Europe and has a lengthy list of accomplishments.
His father won a silver medal at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and won a Spanish league championship with Club Baloncesto Malaga.
Watching his father play, as well as backyard matchups between the two of them fueled Risacher’s drive to win.
“It started at such a young age, because I was playing with my father in the backyard, but that could be like basketball or soccer or volleyball or whatever,” the younger Risacher said. “And I was always losing. So I think that’s the way my competitiveness really came. I just wanted to beat my father.”
Unfortunately for the 19-year-old, he never got the chance to beat his father at basketball. He said his father retired from the game before he had the chance to beat him.
“So three years ago, he beat me like, that was a close game,” he said. “And then he just said, ‘I’m out, I will never play against you anymore. So I’m undefeated.’ And so, right now, I can tell to the world that I never beat my father.”
But with the Hawks taking Risacher on Wednesday night, he became the first in his basketball family to get drafted to the NBA. They’ll remain connected because basketball has tied them together and how they express themselves.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “Like basketball is basically who I am. I’m not just a basketball player, but that’s a part of my DNA because basketball was there before I was born because of my pops. I really feel like in our home, we talk, we live basketball. But the thing that is important is that we keep it simple and that’s never too much. And, that’s basically like, (how) express our(selves). Basketball is simple to us. And, when everything’s going on, just at the end of the day basketball, and that means a lot to us.”
As he familiarizes himself with the NBA game, his new teammates and his new home, he’ll have the language of basketball to help him in his transition.
“For now, I just want -- I just know the facilities of the Hawks,” Risacher said. “I can’t wait to get in there and to just work in those conditions. I think that’s a style of life that I’m not used to. I talk about the gym, the cold baths, locker room, whatever. I feel like if I could basically sleep in the gym. In Bourg-en-Bresse, which is a great gym, too, but not as good as the Hawks have. I can really sleep in the gym.”
About the Author
