The Atlanta Hawks have punted on the present

The Atlanta Hawks just made the No. 1 overall selection in the NBA Draft – the team with the best record to do so this millennium.

Additionally, they have one of the most dynamic offensive players in the game in Trae Young, who led them to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021. While the soon-to-be 26-year-old guard would lend to a “win now” mode, the Hawks are making moves aimed at future options, not the present.

With numerous options at No. 1, the team went with the most future-oriented option, taking Zaccharie Risacher. A young, versatile wing, Risacher projects as a peripheral All-Star, similar to other top talents in a draft class maligned for its lack of elite talent. However, the selection of others would have given the team a better immediate fit.

For example, opting for Alex Sarr would have given the team the kind of athletic, defensive-minded center that is adaptable to any roster and easy to build around. Sarr, with little offensive expectation, could have elevated the roster, filled a current need, and made the team a more attractive destination. 

Risacher is another wing on a wing-loaded team and more likely to need time before he really finds his way.

Atlanta’s front office doubled down on this approach by trading Dejounte Murray. His destination, the New Orleans Pelicans, was a long-speculated landing spot. The return, however, was rumored to be Brandon Ingram – not the ultimate return of future middling draft compensation and role players Larry Nance Jr. and Dyson Daniels.

The trade was a course correction, a salary dump, and a punt while the team figures out what they have in Risacher while they stay in lottery territory. For fans, it should be a resetting of expectations.

Prior to the Draft, the thought process was that if…

1. Atlanta drafted Sarr
2. Landed another, better fitting, star in return for Murray or Young
3. Maximized trade value for other assets – most likely Clint Capela and Deandre Hunter, and
4. Made savvy additions in free agency…

That the team could make a jump into one of the top six in the Eastern Conference.

Instead, they drafted Risacher, unloaded a star for near-zero impact return, and allowed Saddiq Bey to become an unrestricted free agent. 

While it remains to be seen whether this plan will, ultimately, be for the best, all signs are that this is a franchise that has zero desire to make a postseason appearance in 2025.

Instead, the only move that makes sense is for them to enter the season with their roster roughly intact and then identify ways to offload talent in exchange for draft compensation as the trade deadline approaches, lose games late in the season, develop around Risacher and Jalen Johnson, assess the long-term future of Young, and hope for another successful Lottery.