ESPN Analyst Makes Bold Prediction for Zaccharie Risacher’s Rookie Season

The 2024 NBA Draft is now in the books. We’ll get our first look at the new signings in a few weeks when they play in the NBA Summer League. Whoever performs best during Summer League could have a very, very early lead in who will be the favorite for the 2024-2025 NBA Rookie of the Year award, and one of those players could be the No. 1 in the general classification, Zaccharie Risacher. Risacher was picked No. 1 by the Atlanta Hawks and he will have the opportunity to step in immediately and make an impact for the Hawks, which should put him in the running for Rookie of the Year.

Risacher has already made a prediction to win the prize. Giving his recap of the 2024 draft and looking ahead, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony picked Risacher to win Rookie of the Year:

“The Hawks will give Risacher every opportunity to succeed after selecting him No. 1, and he fits perfectly into their roster with one of the NBA’s best passers in Trae Young.”

I still don’t know if Risacher is going to be a starter from the start for the Hawks, but he will at least be a key player in the rotation. If he’s a starter from day one, that should give him plenty of opportunities to win the award.

When Hawks general manager Landry Fields met with the media after the first round of the draft was over, he pointed to Risacher’s versatility on the defensive end and his shooting ability as big factors in the Hawks valuing him as a prospect:

“Well, you start with what you see is that he’s 2.08m tall and he has the ability to play on both sides of the ball, he has the ability to defend, he is a versatile defender, a very good shooter and a player with a high IQ. You know the level of development he’s had so far is fantastic, he’s only 19, he’ll be 19 all next year and I’ve always said all the important qualities for us in the past, about these types of players and who we ultimately want in the building and he has a significant number of them. »

Risacher is a 2.03m, 93kg winger who fills an important need for Atlanta. He is versatile in both directions and has performed well in his league’s playoffs since the lottery. He’s a ready-made forward who would suit the Hawks as a starter or three-way starter. Playing with Young should give Risacher plenty of scoring opportunities and if he continues to shoot at the same level as last year in France, that could translate into big numbers.

It’s very early, but I think Risacher will be in the running to win the Rookie Of The Year title from the first day of next season.