The Atlanta Hawks won the NBA draft lottery on Sunday, becoming the No. 1 pick and a potential cornerstone player in a year where there is no clear pick.
The Hawks hit the jackpot despite only a 3% chance of winning the No. 1 spot after finishing in 10th place in the Eastern Conference at 36-46. They dropped their last six regular season games, losing to the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the play-in tournament.
The Hawks haven’t won a postseason series since a surprising run to the Eastern Conference finals in 2021. They were eliminated in the first round in 2022 and 2023.
Atlanta has some big decisions to make this season, including whether to split the backcourt of Trae Young and Dejounte Murray. General manager Landry Fields can build with the No. 1 pick, although it’s not clear who will be selected first after Victor Wembanyama was the obvious choice for San Antonio last year.
Washington, Houston, San Antonio and Detroit rounded out the top five. The draft will take place on June 26 and 27 in Brooklyn.
Washington and Detroit had the best odds to come out on top at 14%. Only four teams have won the lottery with closer odds than Atlanta, with the biggest longshot being Orlando at 1.52% in 1993. The Magic pulled off a blockbuster draft night trade with Golden State, sending the rights to Chris Webber to the Warriors for the rights to Penny Hardaway along with three future first-round picks.
San Antonio signed a generational player in Wembanyama last year. The franchise that previously drafted David Robinson and Tim Duncan got its next big man, and the Frenchman turned in one of the best rookie seasons in NBA history.
The No. 1 pick could once again come from France, whether it is center Alex Sarr or sharp-shooting forward Zaccharie Risacher, but that is far from certain. UConn guard Stephon Castle and Kentucky’s Reed Sheppard and Rob Dillingham are both expected to come off the board within the first few selections.
The 7-foot-1, 224-pound Sarr has the size and mobility teams crave and can defend the perimeter when not blocking low-level shots. The 19-year-old from Toulouse is known for his explosiveness around the rim, although he could use some more muscle. It would also help if he developed into a more reliable three-point shooter.
Sarr, whose brother Olivier plays for Oklahoma City, played in the Australian National Basketball League last season.
Born in Spain and raised in France, Risacher is known as a dynamic, if streaky, shooter for JL Bourg. He often guards the other team’s best player.
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Castle joined Andre Drummond as UConn’s only unique player in 2012 when he declared for the draft in April after the Huskies’ final NCAA championship run. The 6-foot-4 inguard averaged 11.1 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists while often being tasked defensively with shutting down the opponent’s best perimeter player. He scored 21 in UConn’s Final Four win over Alabama and had 15 points in the championship game against Purdue.
Sheppard and Dillingham both came off the bench during their lone college seasons.
Sheppard, who was voted by coaches as the best freshman in the Southeastern Conference. He was Kentucky’s No. 3 scorer with 12.5 points per game and averaged an SEC-best 2.5 steals that ranked eighth nationally despite starting only five of 33 games. He also averaged 4.5 assists, 4.1 rebounds and made 52% of his three-point attempts.
Dillingham was named the SEC’s sixth-best man after averaging 15.2 and 3.9 assists. Kentucky finished in second place in the conference and earned a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament, but was eliminated by Oakland in the round of 64.