With still half of the season remaining for the Atlanta Hawks, many fans have already turned attention to the impending draft lottery and draft itself. Atlanta is projected to be faced with another franchise-altering decision, almost as large as trading away a franchise pillar.
Armed with the New Orleans Pelicans’ first-round pick, general manager Onsi Saleh has a major future piece, however he sees fit to use it. Currently, New Orleans’ woeful 10-34 record is tied for the worst in the entire NBA. That would give Atlanta, a team that has hovered around .500 for much of this season, a legitimate chance at the No. 1 overall selection next June.
As for who that pick could be used on, there are several players who are possible candidates. That’s where Kansas superstar Darryn Peterson enters the conversation.
Peterson is one of the best prospects in recent memory, but there's a catch
At 6-foot-5 with shot creation ability, Peterson has projected as a top-five pick in this draft for some time. As ESPN draft analyst Jeremy Woo described this past week, “[Peterson] plays with a special degree of poise creating shots, and has been highly effective even without displaying his typical explosiveness. The game comes easily to him.”
While at Kansas, Peterson has been handled with an abundance of caution around his hamstring and quad injuries, as Jayhawks head coach Bill Self described.
“We are in agreement with the family that he should not play until he feels good," Self said in December. “We're in agreement. I'm not inside his head or his body that I can determine if he feels good enough or not. That's up to him. He wants to be out there. He's just not quite ready.”
That abundance of caution has kept Peterson near the top of most mock drafts, if not at the very top. That said, if the Hawks are able to land the scoring threat, he could supplant fellow No. 1 overall pick Zaccharie Risacher in the starting lineup. Along with fellow core pieces Jalen Johnson and Onyeka Okongwu, Peterson would be a lynchpin of the future.
In a post-Trae Young Atlanta team build, the Hawks could continue building around Johnson by adding a high-upside wing piece in Peterson. Due to the youthful nature of Atlanta’s roster, the franchise could slowly build into a long-term contender in the Eastern Conference. Ultimately, time will tell if that turns into reality.