Hawks grab the No. 1 pick after winning the lottery for the first time in franchise history

If there’s one thing for sure, is that no one really expected Atlanta to rocket their way up the board and take the No. 1 pick in this summer’s NBA Draft. The Hawks franchise have won the lottery for the first time in franchise history and are looking forward to see what’s in store for them on June 26 and 27 in Brooklyn.

This past regular season, the Georgia squad ended in the Eastern Conference’s 10th position with a 36-46 record, and only possessed a 3% chance of earning the lottery, which were the 5th lowest odds by a team to win the No. 1 pick since this dynamic started back in 1985.

The other team that round up the top four consist of the Washington Wizards, Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs. The Pistons, who produced the league’s worst record this year, only gained the No. 5 pick. This is now the second-straight campaign in which Detroit were at the bottom of the standings and fell to the fifth selection.

Winning the lottery for the first time in franchise history 😁 > pic.twitter.com/r8r6gpZrZ9

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) May 12, 2024

“It was a shock,” said Hawks GM Landry Fields after receiving the lottery news on Sunday. “You look at the percentages, but when I first saw it wasn’t us between 10 and 12 that launched us into the top 4, so I was like, all right we got a real shot at this thing. Bit of a surprise, but a lot of excitement.”

The executive said it was a special day for many reasons, and joked about the lottery being on Mother’s Day. “At least I can go home and tell my wife on Mother’s Day, ‘Hey, at least we won the lottery,’” he told the press. “That’s her present. Yeah, there we go.”

Now comes the biggest challenge of them all, as the front office will have to decide how they will utilize the No. 1 overall pick, and if they are considering to exchange this privilege with another team or even decide who to sacrifice in order to make room inside the roster.

There has been a lot of rumors going around suggesting that both Trae Young and Dejounte Murray have been linked with many other NBA franchises, and might have played their last game in Atlanta. “It’s a nice tool for us to continue to build out what we’re doing,” Fields said about the possibilities this summer. “It’s exciting.”

French center Alex Sarr is currently the biggest candidate to own the No. 1 draft and end up with the Hawks

Many mock drafts coincide that French big man Alex Sarr is projected to go No. 1 to Atlanta. as ESPN’s latest mock draft also suggests. “There’s a lot of guys and I think it’s a lot of fun too,” Fields assured. “So many different types of guys, so many different variations. We’ll look at it, dive deep and see what comes in June.”

Even though there are many doubts on who will truly end up at the top of this year’s draft, which is very different from last summer’s race for Victor Wembanyama, the Hawks GM does not believe that this class should be considered weak due to the lack of consensus.

“Every draft class has great players in it,” Fields insisted. “Our group has been fantastic. There’s been a whole lot of trust, they put in the work. So we’ll lean into our process and take it from there.”

Besides Sarr, UConn guard Stephen Castle, Kentucky’s Rob Dillingham and Reed Sheppard, and forward Zacharrie Risacher are all expected to earn a place in the Draft’s top 5 this offseason. “Every draft class has great players in it,” the GM said.