At long last, the Atlanta Hawks found out on Tuesday night where the team will pick in the 2019 NBA Draft.
After intense hype and immense buildup, the results for the 2019 NBA Draft Lottery were revealed on Tuesday night on ESPN. Though the prize was Zion Williamson, it seems that the Atlanta Hawks just don’t have lady luck on their side – even with Jami Gertz representing the team in the lottery, much as she did last year when the team moved up to third overall.
In the end, it was announced that the Atlanta Hawks will select at #8 and #10 overall. This is a rather uninspiring outcome, considering the Hawks had a roughly 1 in 10 chance of nabbing the #1 overall pick. Beyond that, the team only had an 8.8 percent chance of the pick falling to #8, per Tankathon. Not ideal.
Despite their own pick falling three spots in the lottery and the Mavs’ one dropping a single spot to #10, we have seen General Manager Travis Schlenk produce miracles later on in the first round – such as his selection of John Collins and Kevin Huerter in consecutive years at #19 overall.
This year, the Hawks’ two first round picks add up to 19 in total – which means Schlenk will likely work his magic on those two lottery selections as well.
For the most part, all of the original players that the Atlanta Hawks were in the running for have been replaced, as the team will be looking at a few different names than the highfalutin big names at the top tier of the draft.
With two late mid-to-late lottery selections, perhaps the Atlanta Hawks could get exploratory in the 2019 NBA Draft by selecting raw prospects like international phenom Sekou Doumbouya or brilliant shooter and shot-blocker Bol Bol out of Oregon.
Who knows what will happen for the Atlanta Hawks in the 2019 NBA Draft, but at least the team knows where they will select after the lottery.