The Atlanta Hawks are finally getting to witness what their number-one pick in the 2024 NBA draft has yielded them. Zaccharie Risacher, the 6’9 wing out of France, has only played two out of the four Summer League games so far. Injuries have already clouded the 19-year-old, leading fans to cast doubt on the young rookie, wondering if this was the last they had seen of Risacher in the tournament.
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Fans and analysts always hype up the 1st overall pick in any professional league’s draft ahead of draft night. To see Zaccharie miss out on not one but two games already has fans questioning what can be expected from the French national. But despite the damaging aura surrounding Risacher, All-Star teammate Trae Young has high hopes for the nifty forward.
“A looooot of potential ! Has a chance to be special ! Bright future!”
If Zaccharie Risacher’s SL is officially over, what are your thoughts on what we saw out of him?
What expectations do you guys have for him heading into the season? Do they differ from what you originally thought? pic.twitter.com/3vaDcrHllH
— Zach Langley (@langleyatl) July 19, 2024
Young’s response was to a question that cast doubt over the French native and whether he’ll be back to play the rest of the games for the Hawks in the Summer League.
Whether the rookie suits up for the Atlanta Hawks in this year’s Summer League or not, it must’ve been a delight to see the team’s star player already having the rookie’s back from Day 1.
The Hawks tried to pair Trae Young and Dejounte Murray for a couple of seasons. But even after Murray’s continued improvement and excellence on the floor, a dual point guard backcourt just did not work out for Atlanta.
But after trading away the All-Star guard, the Hawks organization has now decided to put their money on Zaccharie, hoping he’d turn into a hybrid of what Victor Wembanyama was for the Spurs last season.
Zaccharie’s upbringing around the game
It truly was disheartening for fans as they did not get to witness the 19-year-old shooting guard at full strength in his Summer League debut. However, based on the amount of detail he puts into his workout regime, Risacher may just turn out to be a problem for opposing players in the league.
As per Andscape, Zaccharie Risacher started to absorb the fundamentals of basketball from a young age. The son of an Olympic silver medalist, one of the first things Zaccharie did was look up Stéphane Risacher highlights when he got a phone.
“That was the first player I ever watched. When I started to grow and I got my first iPad and iPhone, I would go to watch my father’s highlights on YouTube.”
His father also revealed, “And once Zacc was 1½, 2 years old when we were coming back this summer, he was coming in the gym with me every day. So, from as far as we remember, there been a basketball in his life.”
In the two games that he played in the Summer League, Zaccharie displayed immense potential. Granted that he still may be in the early stages of development, the Hawks may have finally found the missing piece to go alongside Trae Young.
