Atlanta Hawks rookie Zaccharie Risacher has not shown in some ways that were expected when he entered the league as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, but he has been a good defender and smart offensive player.
However, that could not protect him from the Hawks’ most frequent affliction: the injury bug.
Risacher had appeared in every game this season, averaging 10.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game.
“Zaccharie Risacher, who missed Wednesday’s game at Chicago due to left adductor irritation, will miss at least the next two games (at Boston and at New York),” the Hawks announced in a post on X on January 17. “His status will be updated in advance of Wednesday’s game vs. Detroit.”
Risacher was 1-for-5 with 2 points in a 122-117 win over the Phoenix Suns in his last game.
Before that, it was a 2-for-4 with 5 points for Risacher in a 123-115 loss to the Suns to complete their home-and-home.
Zacch through contact +1 💪 pic.twitter.com/Y0aPTFKoVe
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) January 10, 2025
Risacher has the seventh-worst on-off differential on the Hawks, per Cleaning The Glass. Now, Dyson Daniels has the fifth-worst mark right behind Larry Nance Jr., highlighting how the metric can misrepresent a player’s impact.
Still, Risacher’s inefficiency has not helped the Hawks.
He has a 46.2% effective field goal mark and has connected on 28.1% of his looks from beyond the arc, which was one of the facets of his game that seemed ready-made to translate.
Hawks veteran big man gets ‘update’
There is a saying that “no news is good news.” The Hawks took that to heart in the second part of their injury update.
“Larry Nance Jr. (right hand surgery on Jan. 2) is progressing in his rehabilitation and will be re-evaluated in approximately one week,” the Hawks’ release read. “An update will be provided at that time.”
Nance has missed eight games already.
The Hawks’ last update on his progress simply said that he would be reevaluated around this time, so they delivered in that regard.
It is also encouraging that he has avoided any setbacks after beginning his rehab process in the days that followed his surgery. Nance was also looking to push for a bigger role before he went down, and his return could open up some options for the Hawks before the trade deadline.
Hawks catching Celtics on 2nd leg of back-to-back
The Hawks are visiting the Celtics, who have the second-best record in the Eastern Conference and the seventh-best winning percentage at home in the league.
The Celtics are also entering this contest off a 121-94 win over the Orlando Magic on Friday, though they are 5-1 on the season with no rest. Atlanta is 7-4 with two or more days of rest this season.
The Hawks also beat the Celtics in their most recent meeting.
Atlanta was healthy then, though. Now, Jalen Johnson has missed five straight games with shoulder inflammation, and De’Andre Hunter has missed two games with a foot issue.