Hawks select Frenchman Zachary Reisacher No. 1 overall in NBA Draft

NEW YORK – The Atlanta Hawks have selected French forward Zachary Reisacher with the first pick in the 2024 NBA Draft.

Reisacher became the second consecutive international prospect – and fourth overall – to be selected as the top overall pick in the draft. He follows fellow Frenchman Victor Wimpanyama, who was taken No. 1 by the San Antonio Spurs in last year’s draft.

Italian big man Andrea Bargnani was taken with the No. 1 overall pick by the Toronto Raptors in 2006, while the Houston Rockets took Hall of Fame center Yao Ming with the top pick in 2002.

Reisacher, 19, played last season with GL Bourg in France’s LNB Elite League and averaged 11.1 points and 4.0 rebounds across competition in both the European Cup and Ligue 1. He is the son of French professional basketball player Stephane Reichacher, who won a silver medal with the French national team at the 2000 Olympics.

The 6-foot-9 forward has separated himself throughout the draft process, with Atlanta jumping from 11th to first in the NBA draft lottery last month for the first time in franchise history. Now, Resacher will go to the frontcourt alongside forward Jalen Johnson for the Hawks, who enter the season with a lot of questions surrounding the future of their star-studded backcourt of Trae Young and Dejounte Murray.

His French colleague Alex Sarr, also 19 years old, ranked second against the Washington Wizards, while Kentucky goalkeeper Reed Sheppard moved to the Houston Rockets in third place.

During his opening remarks, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver congratulated the Boston Celtics on winning the 2024 NBA title — drawing boos from the several thousand fans gathered here — and commented on how the Celtics built their team by drafting Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum third overall in the 2016 and 2017 drafts.

Silver’s comments came with an ironic twist, as the draft was being held here at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where the Nets make their home – the team that sent the Celtics the picks that became Brown and Tatum as part of the trade that brought Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett here in 2013.

Unlike last year’s draft, with Wembanyama’s selection clear all the way through, it was a more muddled process this year, with Risacher, Sarr, Sheppard and UConn center Donovan Clingan all discussed as potential options before Atlanta landed Risacher with the pick.

After the Hawks acquired Reisacher, Washington selected Sarr, a versatile 7-foot forward who has drawn some comparisons to longtime NBA star Al Horford, with the second pick, as was widely expected, paving the way for the first A moment of real drama was when the Rockets ran down the clock with the third overall pick.

Houston, which got that pick because it acquired him from the Nets in the James Harden trade in 2021, then selected Sheppard, the Kentucky sharpshooter who made 52% of his threes with the Wildcats, with the third overall pick, adding to a burgeoning young talent base. With the Rockets, it includes goalkeeper Amen Thompson, forward Jabari Smith Jr., and center Alberin Singun.

That means another Texas team, the San Antonio Spurs, was poised to have the fourth pick overall — the first of two teams, along with the eighth pick, in this year’s lottery. The Spurs elicited a huge cheer from the fans here in Brooklyn by grabbing Stephon Castle, a guard from two-time defending national champion Connecticut.

With the fifth overall pick, the Detroit Pistons were another team with some intrigue, as several teams would likely look to trade Clingan, the best defensive player in this draft. However, in the end, the Pistons stood up and drafted Ron Holland II, a 6-foot-7 forward who spent last season with the G League Ignite.

The Charlotte Hornets then continued the French connection at the top of this draft by grabbing Tegan Salouan, a 6-foot-9 long-shot forward who spent last season playing for Cholet Basket Club in France.

That left Clingan on the Portland Trail Blazers’ board with the seventh pick, who had hoped to land the position with his pick and then managed to get him there.