The Atlanta Hawks have a plethora of young talent, and they have quite an intriguing draft pick this season. If they can solve their forward crisis, the club could bounce back to great heights as soon as next season.
When evaluating the long-term future of this Hawks team, there are a few “locks.” Jalen Johnson will be an offensive engine at the forward position. Onyeka Okongwu will be the starting center, barring a major offseason move. Dyson Daniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker should be the starting shooting guard and sixth man on the next great Atlanta team, respectively.
This leaves a gap at point guard and small forward. If we assume the Hawks draft one of the many talented offense-first guards in this draft for the sake of simplicity, we are left with one question: What do you do about Jonathan Kuminga and Zaccharie Risacher?
The Hawks have a 26-game trial period to configure the forward rotation
If you had told me at the beginning of the 2024-25 season that the Hawks would have both Kuminga and Risacher on the roster, I would have laughed. Then I would’ve asked how far we made it in the playoffs. Then I would have been hit with a wave of sadness as you inform me that, with 26 games remaining, Atlanta is the 10th seed, still on pace to find their Play-In destiny.
Kuminga was fresh off an impressive third season in the NBA, averaging 16.1 points on 59.8% true shooting. He had even improved his defense, with multiple advanced stats indicating he was a positive on this end despite his shaky reputation.
At that same time, Risacher was the former first overall pick. While everyone knew he was a weaker #1 pick, the Frenchman had flashed some serious two-way potential. Sure, he won’t be Cooper Flagg, but many dreamed of Risacher developing into a Michael Porter Jr./Trey Murphy III-caliber player, which would be quite useful on any team.
Unfortunately, we do not live in a Disney movie. Kuminga has had one of the all-time most embarrassing exits from a team (only rivaled by Cam Thomas’s eerily similar saga), and Risacher has lost all confidence.
Kuminga is still just as talented a player as he was two seasons ago. Atlanta, primarily Quin Snyder, must tap into the potential he holds to harness an effective player. If the Hawks can motivate Kuminga to embrace a smaller role, one closer to Dyson Daniels than Jalen Johnson, they will have the athletic bully-ball forward every team wants. If not, Kuminga will not be a particularly effective player in the 404.
Risacher has seemingly lost some burst since packing on so much weight since his pre-draft days. While this isn’t great, he’s still a good defender with elite potential on this end, and his jumpshot is still as smooth as ever. If Atlanta can find a way to fill Risacher with confidence (and work on his handle over the years), Risacher could be the mobile 6’10 do-it-all wing GMs dream of.
With 26 games left in the season, however, neither player is on pace to achieve these tasks. How Snyder plays the rest of this season could be a make-or-break moment for Kuminga, Risacher, and the Hawks' short-term future.