2024 NBA Draft Lottery: Atlanta Hawks secure No. 1 pick

CHICAGO –

The Atlanta Hawks received the NBA draft lottery on Sunday, touchdown the No. 1 decide and a possible cornerstone participant in a yr the place there’s no clear-cut alternative.

The Hawks hit the jackpot regardless of simply three per cent odds after ending tenth within the Jap Convention at 36-46. They dropped their remaining six regular-season video games and misplaced to the Chicago Bulls within the first spherical of the play-in match.

The Hawks have not received a postseason sequence since a stunning run to the Jap Convention finals in 2021. They acquired knocked out within the first spherical in 2022 and 2023.

Atlanta has some large selections to make this offseason, together with whether or not to interrupt up its backcourt of Trae Younger and Dejounte Murray. Basic supervisor Landry Fields can construct with the No. 1 decide, although it is not clear who can be taken first after Victor Wembanyama was the plain alternative for San Antonio final yr.

Washington, Houston, San Antonio and Detroit rounded out the highest 5. The draft is June 26-27 in Brooklyn.

Washington and Detroit had one of the best probabilities to land the highest decide at 14 per cent. Solely 4 groups have received the lottery with slimmer odds than Atlanta, with the largest longshot being Orlando at 1.52 per cent in 1993. The Magic orchestrated a blockbuster draft night time commerce with Golden State, sending the rights to Chris Webber to the Warriors for the rights to Penny Hardaway together with three future first-round picks.

San Antonio landed a generational participant final yr in Wembanyama. The franchise that beforehand took David Robinson and Tim Duncan with the No. 1 general decide acquired its subsequent nice large man, and all of the Frenchman did was flip in among the best rookie seasons in NBA historical past.

The No. 1 decide might as soon as once more come from France, whether or not it’s centre Alex Sarr or sharp-shooting ahead Zaccharie Risacher, however that’s removed from a certainty. UConn guard Stephon Fort and Kentucky’s Reed Sheppard and Rob Dillingham are each anticipated to be off the board throughout the first few alternatives.

The 7-foot-1, 224-pound Sarr has the dimensions and mobility that groups crave and may defend the perimeter when he’s not blocking photographs down low. The 19-year-old from Toulouse is understood for his explosiveness across the rim, although he might use some extra muscle. It could assist, too, if he developed right into a extra dependable 3-point shooter.

Sarr, whose brother Olivier performs for the Oklahoma Metropolis, spent this previous season in Australia’s Nationwide Basketball League.

Risacher, who was born in Spain and grew up in France, is called a dynamic, albeit streaky shooter for JL Bourg, whether or not he’s popping off screens or pulling up for 3-pointers. He typically guards the opposite staff’s finest participant.

Fort joined Andre Drummond in 2012 as UConn’s solely one-and-done gamers when he declared for the draft in April after the Huskies’ newest NCAA championship run. The 6-foot-6 guard averaged 11.1 factors, 4.7 rebounds and a couple of.9 assists whereas typically drawing the defensive task to close down the opposition’s prime perimeter participant. He scored 21 in UConn’s Last 4 win over Alabama and had 15 factors within the championship recreation towards Purdue.

Sheppard and Dillingham each got here off the bench of their lone school seasons.

Sheppard, who was voted the Southeastern Convention’s prime freshman by coaches after main the league in steals, was one of many league’s finest playmakers and perimeter shooters. He was Kentucky’s No. 3 scorer at 12.5 factors per contest and averaged an SEC-best 2.5 steals that ranked eighth nationally, regardless of beginning simply 5 of 33 video games. He additionally averaged 4.5 assists, 4.1 rebounds and made 52 per cent of his 3-point makes an attempt.

Dillingham was voted the SEC’s prime sixth man after averaging 15.2 and three.9 assists. Kentucky tied for second within the convention and earned a No. 3 seed within the NCAA Event, solely to get knocked out by Oakland within the spherical of 64. Coach John Calipari then left after 15 years for Arkansas.