Classic Atlanta Hawks, huh? Here they are, smack-dab in the middle of basketball no-man’s-land, and boom! They land the top pick in the most confusing draft in years. Unfortunately for the Hawks, there’s no Victor Wembanyama waiting to save them, not even a Kyrie Irving or a Zion Williamson to inject hope into their future. Just a bunch of intriguing ifs and maybes, which feels very on brand for Atlanta.
It’s a fitting win for the Hawks, an annual play-in team that’s had a 120-126 record in the three years since making the Eastern Conference finals in 2021. They spent all of this season listening to trade offers for Dejounte Murray and have an All-Star guard in Trae Young, who just changed agencies as trade rumors swirl. But no matter how much uncertainty there is about the Hawks’ outlook and the quality of this upcoming draft class, they’re still clearly way better off picking first than 10th.
The Hawks had only a 3 percent chance of winning the first pick, but that’s exactly what happened. Now they have even more flexibility to go in any direction. “Positioning is key in this business. The position we have right now is no. 1,” Hawks general manager Landry Fields told reporters. “We’ll figure this thing out in time.”
Now the Hawks face a critical crossroads, further underscored by their lottery win. They can opt to kick-start a rebuild with the first pick after moving both Young and Murray to separate teams for two major hauls, or they can keep one of them and retool the roster around the other.
“I want to be here. But I want to win, too,” Young told reporters in April. “I want to be here. I want to win championships here.”
But is there a player available at no. 1 who can help Young accomplish his goals in Atlanta soon? Here’s how I’d rank the Hawks’ options right now:
5. Zaccharie Risacher, French Forward
At 6-foot-8, Risacher brings size and theoretical two-way versatility, but he’s an incredibly streaky 3-point shooter. This description may hit too close to home for Hawks fans after they experienced wings like Cam Reddish and De’Andre Hunter. Atlanta would need to feel really, really good about Risacher’s shot.
4. Donovan Clingan, UConn Center
The 7-foot-2 center would be the safest choice on this list because he could provide the verticality that Young prefers. They’d likely need to move Clint Capela, because Clingan can do largely the same things Capela can but would be on a rookie-scale deal. The Hawks could also trade down and target Clingan later in the lottery.
3. Ron Holland, G League Wing
Holland is a two-way wing who can attack downhill, but as mentioned above, the Hawks haven’t had the best luck with wings who need to improve their jumpers.
2. Matas Buzelis, G League Forward
Young and Buzelis would have major two-man-game potential since Buzelis can pick apart defenses in the short roll or excel in dribble handoff situations. But he’s physically raw and has an unproven jumper.
1. Alex Sarr, French Power Forward
Sarr’s defensive versatility would add a new dimension for the Hawks, but he’s extremely raw on offense and played limited bench minutes for Perth over a competitive NBL season. Realistically, he’ll need some time to develop in the NBA, too.
You can read more about each of these prospects in my 2024 NBA Draft Guide. But none of these five players will definitely be able to help Young, who has only two guaranteed seasons remaining on his contract and an option for a third. Will he really want to be patient and endure more growing pains? Or will he expect the Hawks to use this pick to acquire a player who can help now? I’d expect the latter to be the case: Young will probably want to see Atlanta make tangible improvements in the same way Damian Lillard was hoping for last summer. But as soon as Portland selected Scoot Henderson, Dame’s fate was sealed. Soon Trae’s could be, too.
It’s unclear which stars could become available for a package headlined by the first pick. Maybe Jimmy Butler if the Heat decide to break up their core? Or Karl-Anthony Towns if he continues to implode against the Nuggets? Would the Clippers move Kawhi Leonard if Paul George leaves in free agency? Or maybe the Celtics would trade Jaylen Brown if they fall short again? All are intriguing names, but I’m not sure the Hawks would be tempted considering the value they’d have to add on top of the first pick.
Trading Young isn’t an easy choice for the Hawks, either. It’d depend on who wants him and what those suitors would be willing to give up. The Hawks saw a relatively mild market for Murray at the deadline, and he has three guaranteed remaining years on his contract at nearly half of Young’s annual value. Not many teams need a point guard, but there are a few: How far would the Lakers go to acquire one after D’Angelo Russell flopped again in the postseason? Could the Heat make one more push with a new point guard? Or maybe a young playoff team like the Magic or Pelicans would want one to boost their offense? Would the Spurs or Wizards prefer to find their point guard in a trade or the draft?
“We got work to do,” Fields told reporters in attendance at the lottery. He spoke about 16 minutes total on Sunday, giving wishy-washy answers to questions about the Hawks’ new situation. As you’d expect. He doesn’t want to show his hand, and he doesn’t even know what they’ll do yet. It was unexpected for Atlanta to be in this position, and the Hawks themselves know how these decisions can change at the last minute.
The Hawks gave Luka Doncic a physical the morning of the 2019 draft in New York and had planned to take him before the Mavericks came in with a late offer when Hawks owner Tony Ressler spearheaded the Luka-for-Trae move. It all happened fast, with the owner coming over the top to make the decision, as they often do in big trades.
There are a lot of cooks in Atlanta’s kitchen nowadays, including the one who traded Luka away. Fields is the general manager. But Ressler calls the shots, and now his son Nick has a prominent voice in the front office, too. So does head coach Quin Snyder, who joined Atlanta to win, not rebuild. Agents have less control over whether information and medicals are passed on to teams now. But if the Hawks don’t display some organizational alignment, an agent won’t necessarily want to steer their client there (or to Washington, which has the second pick). Houston, a rising team, is sitting there with the third pick. San Antonio has the fourth pick (and Wembanyama). And a number of teams could move up.
The responsibility of the first pick should force the Hawks to choose what they want to become, whether that includes their veteran point guards or not. They can keep neither, one, or both of them. They can stay put at the first pick, trade down, or move out of the draft entirely. They can retool or blow it up.
With a little lottery luck, the Hawks have far more options than they could have anticipated, even if the choices they should make are no clearer than they were before Sunday.
