Trae Young Gives Supportive Statement to No. 1 Pick Zaccharie Risacher

Despite missing the last two games, Zaccharie Risacher has impressed for the Atlanta Hawks during a pair of Las Vegas Summer League games. The 2024 No. 1 overall pick scored 18 points in his first game as a Hawk and played solid defense while showing an excellent feel for the game. It hasn’t gone unnoticed, as the Atlanta Hawks’ biggest star has been very supportive of Risacher on social media.

Young attended Sunday night’s game between the Hawks and the San Antonio Spurs and he had his thoughts on Risacher so far:

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ve been messaging him, going back and forth. He’s talented, he’s smart, he can make the right reads and I know our coach Quin (Snyder) told him to be aggressive and I know he didn’t take as many shots as I’d like today, but he’s a smart player and he’s going to be really good in this league”

After trading away Dejounte Murray earlier this offseason, the Hawks plan to restructure their roster around Young and one of those players will be Risacher. Risacher will give the Hawks another player with size and length to help Young on defense. If the first game was any indication, Risacher could help the Hawks right away.

Now, it wasn’t a perfect performance from Risacher in his first game and it doesn’t exactly make his Summer League a success, but Risacher showed glimpses of why the Hawks spent the first overall pick on him. He finished with 18 points on 7-16 shooting and 3-9 from three. I thought Risacher’s shooting selection was fine and the fact that he continued to shoot three-pointers was encouraging. Now, Risacher needs to start hitting them at a higher rate, but he should look better when he’s on the court with Trae Young in the regular season.

It will be an interesting combination to keep an eye on this coming season.