The Atlanta Hawks and their fans can breathe a sigh of relief.
Thee entered Monday’s NBA Draft Lottery with a chance to come away with two first-round picks, one as high as No. 13. That is exactly how they leave, with that 13th overall pick in hand and can now plan accordingly.
Atlanta owned the rights to the Sacramento Kings’ first-round pick. That selection had just a 3.8% chance of staying with Sacramento, which meant jumping up into at least the top four.
However, the Hawks had a 3% chance of landing the No. 1 pick in 2024 and did.
They landed Zaccharie Risacher, who appears to have two-way star potential even in a class widely disregarded going in. The Hawks will also select No. 22 overall, a pick they received from the Los Angeles Lakers via the New Orleans Pelicans in the Dejounte Murray trade.
Losing their own first-round pick stings. But the Hawks can also rest assured they are not sending out a top-four pick, possibly even No. 1 overall, to the San Antonio Spurs.
The Hawks owed that pick thanks to their trade for Murray in 2022.
Hawks not out of darkness just yet
There are few ways to win and several more lose. The Hawks came out on the right side, even though they had to surrender a selection. They also saw the Dallas Mavericks pull off an even greater leap.
The Mavs had a 1.8% chance of landing the top spot, widely expected to be used on Duke forward Cooper Flagg, and did.
Notably, the Mavericks traded Luka Doncic at the trade deadline this season.
Conspiracy theories aside, the Mavericks landing Flagg underscores just how critical it is for teams to control their draft capital if they are planning to hit the reset button on their current plans.
To that end, the Hawks still owe a first-round pick swap in 2026 and an unprotected first to the Spurs in 2027.
Perhaps that puts the uncertainty around Trae Young in a different light.