Apr 13, 2025; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks forward Zaccharie Risacher (10) shown on the court during the first half at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images / Dale Zanine-Imagn Images
Somewhat surprisingly taken as the No. 1 pick by Atlanta in the 2024 NBA Draft, forward Zaccharie Risacher has had a phenomenal debut season by most standards. But the team’s 25-point loss to Orlando in their first Play-In game highlighted some of his struggles.
At 6-foot-8 with a smooth, two-way skillset, Risacher’s seen a Rookie of the Year-level season, despite Spurs frosh Stephon Castle likely coming away with the hardware. Across 75 games, he’s scored 12.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.2 assists so far this season, shooting a nice 46% overall and a solid 36% from three on great volume.
Even more, he’s come up big plenty of times, scoring 38, 36, 30 and 33 on separate occasions.
Tuesday night against Orlando, though, highlighted some things to work on.
In the big loss, Risacher struggled to get going, scoring just seven points on 2-for-10 shooting in finishing with a -7 plus-minus. He played 29 total minutes, managing to add just three rebounds.
Orlando’s physicality had Risacher out of sorts essentially from the get-go. He struggled to create his own shot — a season-long struggle — and subsequently missed open shots without necessary rhythm.
Building on his solid frame will be an essential must for Risacher moving forward, allowing him to absorb more contact on drives and finish with more authority. Aditionally, tightening the handle would go a long ways in opening up the paint even more.
There’s a few pieces of good news, though. The first being Risacher is still freshly 20-years-old, and has a half decade to continue honing his game in the Hawks core. The next is that he’ll get a chance to redeem himself on Friday, facing the winner of the Heat and Bulls for a shot at being the East’s No. 8 seed.
With those teams in the least offering less length than the Magic had, Risacher could be in for a bounce-back performance.
