Hawks' Zaccharie Risacher drops Klay Thompson truth bomb on his playing style

06/27/2024 12:03 AM

After some hemming and hawing, the Atlanta Hawks landed on Zaccharie Risacher with the top-overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft.

Risacher proved to be a knockdown shooter over the last few months overseas, and his two-way potential was too much for the Hawks to pass up on in this spot.

After his selection, Risacher met with the media where he made an interesting comparison between himself and Golden State Warriors wing Klay Thompson, saying he took inspiration from the Splash Brother.

“I like the way he plays and I think we’ve got the same game.”

No. 1 overall pick Zaccharie Risacher takes inspiration in his playing style from Warriors legend Klay Thompson. pic.twitter.com/IRm97FXTHB

— Bally Sports South (@BallySportsSO) June 27, 2024

Said the newest Hawks player, “I like the way he plays and I think we’ve got the same game.”

The 19-year-old Risacher is yet another prospect to make the jump from European basketball directly to the NBA, having played for France’s JL Bourg in the 2023-24 season and LDLC ASVEL between the 2021-22 and 2022-23 campaigns.

He averaged 10.1 points and 3.8 rebounds in 32 Betclic Élite games, shooting 43.9 percent from the field and 35.2 percent from the 3-point line.

At 6-foot-8 with a rangy wingspan, Risacher has prototypical size for an NBA wing. Shooting is his primary calling card, though he took a massive leap in efficiency this season after hovering around 30 percent from 3-point range in 2022-23. With his size and assuming a continued ability to shoot the 3-pointer, a comparison to Thompson is reasonable if one squints hard enough. Of course Thompson is a future first-ballot Hall of Famer, and Risacher is somewhat of a project at this point of his career.

Risacher may not quite be a true "project" player, but in the immediate future the focus will be on developing his body and rounding out his ballhandling and defensive awareness. While Risacher is not a premier athlete, he moves well laterally and should be able to swing between both forward positions in the NBA. At this stage, he projects as more of a long-term role player, as opposed to a No. 1 or even No. 2 option on a contending team, but that's not a knock on his long-term potential.

Could Klay Thompson leave Warriors in free agency?

Thompson, Hawks rookie Zaccharie Risacher’s model, has been with the Warriors for 13 years now, winning four championships in one of the most storied careers in franchise history. He gave a lot to the organization, rehabbing from injuries that sidelined him for two entire seasons and coming off the bench this season to allow them to play rookie Brandin Podziemski more. But now it seems like his time could be up in the Bay Area.

Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. said that the team wants Thompson back and is hopeful that he will stick around with the only NBA home he has ever known. He mentioned that it's impossible to separate the emotional aspect of Thompson’s future with the team, but he still has to focus on coming to terms that the NBA is a business first.

"We want him back. I think we've said that all along. Hopeful [that] he will come back," Dunleavy said, declining to disclose more specific information about where talks stand with Thompson. The five-time All-Star isn't satisfied with those negotiations dating back quite some time.

It remains to be seen whether or not fans have seen the last of Thompson with the Warriors

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