Top pick Zaccharie Risacher looking to reward Hawks’ confidence in him

The time has come for the top overall pick in this year’s NBA draft to make his debut. On Tuesday, Hawks rookie Zaccharie Risacher will step onto the court at State Farm Arena for the first time.

“I’m super excited,” Risacher said at shootaround Tuesday morning. “I just can’t wait to see the arena with the court and people in there. I know it’s gonna be amazing and, yeah, just super exciting. I can’t wait to be there and tell myself, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna compete almost every night there’ and that’s it. That’s gonna be, basically my new home so I’m super proud and super excited to discover this environment.”

The Hawks host the Indiana Pacers for the first of four exhibition games. After facing his teammates for the past six days of training camp, this game will give the rookie a different set of bodies to go up against. It will be the first time since Summer League in July that Risacher has had the chance to compete against a different team.

“It’s been a process,” he said. “We’ve been together for at least two weeks. And we’re training hard, and we had to make sure to be ready for the season. So that’s still part of the process, but now it’s like, it’s getting more serious, but yeah, just being a part of the process, and it’s definitely great for everybody, especially for me, to start, like, to compete against other adversity.”

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While Risacher had to wait a couple of weeks for an NBA matchup, his teammates did not hold back when handing out his rookie duties.

The Hawks traveled to Athens right after the conclusion of their annual media day Sept. 30 for the first three days of camp at the University of Georgia. Risacher was still finishing his media duties when he got a call from teammate Trae Young, who told him he had to pick up Chick-Fil-A for everyone.

The request came as a bit of a shock for the 19-year-old, but with some help from second-year forward, Mo Gueye, he completed his first rookie task.

“So (Mo) had me right,” Risacher said. “He made a list of what everybody likes. ... I just had to call and pick up Chick-fil-A and bring everything to the bus. So that was smooth. And I hope everybody enjoyed.

“Like they told me, that’s gonna be like during the whole year, (and) some stuff like that. But they’re great guys. So it’s totally fine to do it. And, I never did something like this in my career. So it’s fun. But I think it’s gonna be better, and I’m gonna get used to it. But the first time I was like, super stressful.”

Though Risacher has had to adjust to rookie duties, he hasn’t had to do too much warming up when it comes to showing off his skills on the court. Throughout camp, the Hawks praised his ability to knock shots down and have encouraged him to keep shooting it.

Now that he’ll face a different opponent Tuesday night, he looks forward to proving his bolstering his teammates’ belief in him.

“I’m super happy for it. It’s very exciting to prove them right, and everybody I see, (they’ve) encouraged me to shoot the ball,” Risacher said. “And that’s, especially for a rookie, it’s helped a lot for confidence. And just they let you know they have your back. So that’s a great condition for me to be, in this type of environment and people.”