Trae Young Not Setting High Expectations for No. 1 Pick Zaccharie Risacher in Debut Season

The Atlanta Hawks selected Zaccharie Risacher with the No. 1 pick in the draft, impressed by his potential as a talented French wing player.

Trae Young apparently isn't expecting much out of him this season. Most of the time, when a team's star player talks about a draft pick, it's in cliche terms of how much he likes the rookie's game or work ethic, and always about potential. However, when

Young went on Podcast P with Paul George

"I spoke with him. A lot of people were talking about how I didn't tweet about 'em or stuff on draft day and things like that. I've always done that and stuff, but I messaged him behind the scenes right before Summer League and just shot him some good luck. Just stuff like that... We ain't got to work out yet, but he played right before summer league overseas…

"I mean to be honest with you, and no disrespect to the guys that got drafted, I mean from the outside looking in… a lot of us look at them as role players coming in anyway…. I feel like the GMs all this year are probably just trying to figure out who's going to be the best role player for their team. As good as Alex Sarr is I don't think he's going to be their [Washington Wizards] franchise player going forward. You know what I'm saying? He's going to be a great, great player, have a long NBA career, but just the outlook on any of these guys coming in. It wasn't like they were going to be Luka [Doncic] type guys or Zions [Williamson], you know what I'm saying?"

Two quick thoughts.

First, Young just summed up pretty much every scout's analysis heading into this draft. A player or two are going to break out and be stars, but this is a class full of role players.

Second, Risacher might be one of those breakout stars, but Young is right that in this season they shouldn't expect too much out of him. Risacher is an incredibly graceful and fluid athlete who showed flashes at the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas but also had stretches where he just floated through games, not impacting much.

No. 1 overall pick Zaccharie Risacher gets the lefty hook to go in #PhantomCam.

Spurs-Hawks | Live on ESPN2 pic.twitter.com/IUPcgur0Vj

— NBA (@NBA) July 15, 2024

Risacher averaged 14.5 points a game on 39% shooting in Las Vegas (25% from 3). He has a lot of work to do to get stronger, learn how to defend and navigate screens, and get comfortable shooting the rock at the tempo and space of an NBA game. Watching Risacher, you can also see how all of that could come together in a couple of years.

Just don't expect a ton out of Risacher this year. Trae Young isn't.