Zaccharie Risacher Rumors | Hoops Rumors

International Notes: French Rookies, Yao, Mannion, Larkin, More

November 1st, 2024 at 3:02pm CST by Rory Maher

French teenagers Zaccharie Risacher (Hawks), Alex Sarr (Wizards) and Tidjane Salaün (Hornets), who were selected first, second and sixth overall in June’s draft, have gotten off to slow starts to begin their NBA careers, per John Hollinger of The Athletic. Risacher (.354/.238/.583 shooting line) and Sarr (.297/.238/.833) are struggling with offensive efficiency, while Salaün isn’t yet a regular member of Charlotte’s rotation.

As Hollinger writes, that outcome was always expected, as all three players were viewed as relatively raw prospects, drafted more for what they could be than what they are now. While Risacher and Sarr have shown promising flashes on defense, they’ve also struggled with the size and strength of the NBA, something Risacher’s teammate Bogdan Bogdanovic is familiar with, having played in Serbia and Turkey before signing his first NBA contract.

“Athleticism in the NBA is very different,” Bogdanovic said. “There is not a league on the planet where you can see this type of length, athleticism and talent on the floor. Just adjusting to the speed of the games and the pace.”

Hollinger asked Risacher about his early adjustment to the league in training camp, and the 19-year-old was modest in his reply.

“Back in France I was super athletic, and now I’m just a regular dude,” Risacher said.

Time will tell whether or not the three rookies will become impact players in the NBA, but for now, their teams will have to be patient as they develop, Hollinger notes.

Here are a few more international notes:

Hall-of-Famer Yao Ming has resigned from his role as president of the Chinese Basketball Association, as Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops relays. Yao, who played NBA nine seasons with the Rockets, was president of the CBA for the past seven years.
Former NBA guard Nico Mannion is signing a three-year contract with Italy’s Olimpia Milano, reports Alessandro Maggi of Sportando. Mannion’s current club, Pallacanestro, will receive a buyout of €300,000. Mannion’s NBA rights are controlled by Golden State, the team that selected him No. 48 overall in 2020. The 23-year-old spent the 2020/21 season on a two-way deal with the Warriors and would be a restricted free agent upon his return to the NBA as long as Golden State keeps issuing him two-way qualifying offers.
Former first-round pick Shane Larkin will return to the Turkish national team for the 2025 EuroBasket tournament, according to Eurohoops. Head coach Ergin Ataman recently announced the news in a podcast appearance, adding that another nationalized citizen, Scottie Wilbekin, will be on the roster as well. It’s unclear if Wilbekin will actually be ready to play by next summer, as he suffered a torn ACL this fall.
NBA veterans Bruno Caboclo and Patrick Beverley are currently playing in Israel with Hapoel Tel Aviv, but they’re both drawing interest from EuroLeague clubs, according to Maggi. Caboclo has reportedly received a contract offer from Real Madrid, which has multiple players sidelined by injuries. The Spanish powerhouse may be eyeing Beverley as well, though it’s unclear if he’s open to leaving his current team.

And-Ones: Franchise Valuations, Breakout Candidates, Bitim, More

October 26th, 2024 at 9:21am CST by Luke Adams

Forbes has released its NBA franchise valuations for 2024, and according to Justin Teitelbaum and Brett Knight, the Warriors are the league’s most valuable team for a third straight season, with an estimated valuation of a whopping $8.8 billion. The Knicks ($7.5 billion), Lakers ($7.1 billion), Celtics ($6 billion), and Clippers ($5.5 billion) round out Forbes’ top five.

As Teitelbaum and Knight detail, franchise valuations are up 15% as a whole from last year’s estimates, with an average of $4.4 billion for the league’s 30 teams. Forbes projects that none of those 30 clubs would sell for less than $3 billion if it were put on the market today, with the No. 30 Grizzlies coming in at a valuation of exactly $3 billion.

According to Forbes, new and renovated arenas – which have led to an increase in local revenue via premium seating and sponsorship revenue – have helped spur growth across the league. Teitelbaum and Knight suggest that the Warriors’ total revenue during the 2023/24 season reached $800MM.

Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

John Hollinger of The Athletic published an 11-player list of prime breakout candidates on Friday, naming Hawks guard Dyson Daniels, Raptors forward RJ Barrett, Hornets guard Tre Mann, and Rockets jack-of-all-trades Amen Thompson as a few of the players he believes are poised for big seasons.
Relaying reporting out of Turkey, Dario Skerletic of Sportando writes that forward Onuralp Bitim is believed to be drawing interest from Anadolu Efes in the EuroLeague after being waived by the Bulls last week. Bitim made his basketball debut with Anadolu Efes earlier in his career and also spent time with multiple other clubs in his native country of Turkey before signing a two-way contract with Chicago in the summer of 2023. He averaged 3.5 PPG and 1.4 RPG in 23 NBA games (11.7 MPG) last season.
Grizzlies center Zach Edey sits atop the rookie power rankings published by Jeremy Woo of ESPN (Insider link). Woo’s list, which ranks players based on their potential to make an immediate impact in 2024/25, also has Rockets guard Reed Sheppard, Hawks forward Zaccharie Risacher, Spurs guard Stephon Castle, and Wizards big man Alex Sarr in the top five.
Ben Golliver of The Washington Post takes a look at the new court designs for this season’s NBA in-season tournament and explains why last season’s issue with slippery surfaces shouldn’t be a problem this time around.

And-Ones: M. Williams, Rookies, International Prospects, G League Trade

October 20th, 2024 at 7:06pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Monty Williams will be a head coach after all this season, just not in the pro or college ranks.

Williams has accepted the head coaching job at TMI Episcopal prep school in San Antonio, where he will coach his son Elijah, NBA insider Chris Haynes tweets. The Pistons fired Williams in June just one season after he signed a six-year, $78.5MM contract.

Williams is replacing former NBA forward Bruce Bowen at the San Antonio prep school, Haynes adds in another tweet.

We have more from around the basketball world:

Jared McCain (Sixers), Ryan Dunn (Suns) and top pick Zaccharie Risacher (Hawks) were among the rookies who stood out in preseason play, according to The Athletic’s Will Guillory, Fred Katz and Josh Robbins. LaMelo Ball, Scottie Barnes and Jaden Ivey are among the most intriguing candidates for the Most Improved Player award, the trio adds.
Looking ahead to the 2025 NBA draft, ESPN’s Jeff Borzello and Jonathan Givony rate the top international newcomers into the college ranks. Their list is headed by guard Kasparas Jakucionis (Illinois), center Khaman Maluach (Duke) and wing Egor Demin (BYU).
Earlier this week, the NBA G League’s Oklahoma City Blue (Thunder) acquired the returning rights to forward Malik Fitts and guard Kevion Nolan from the Memphis Hustle (Grizzlies) in exchange for the returning rights to forward Robert Woodard, the Blue tweeted.

Southeast Notes: Jeffries, Ball, Risacher, Carter

October 9th, 2024 at 1:55pm CST by Luke Adams

Veteran swingman DaQuan Jeffries, one of the three players the Hornets acquired via sign-and-trade in last week’s Karl-Anthony Towns deal, has been diagnosed with a fractured right fifth metacarpal, according to the team (Twitter link). The injury, which he sustained in Tuesday’s preseason game vs. Miami, affects the bone at the base of the pinkie finger.

The Hornets didn’t offer any concrete recovery timeline for Jeffries, simply stating that he’ll be “out moving forward” and that updates will be “provided as appropriate.”

The injury to Jeffries, a fifth-year wing who has averaged just 10.8 minutes per game in 64 appearances over the course of his NBA career, won’t have any impact on the Hornets’ regular season rotation. However, it could be a factor in the team’s upcoming roster decisions.

Jeffries is one of 15 Charlotte players with a fully guaranteed salary for 2024/25, but the club will likely want to find room for Taj Gibson (whose salary is partially guaranteed) on the regular season roster, meaning Jeffries and Charlie Brown Jr. – who was also signed-and-traded from New York – are among the players who could be on the chopping block. If Jeffries is out for an extended period, that won’t help his case to open the season on the Hornets’ roster.

Here’s more from around the Southeast:

After playing just 58 total games over the past two seasons due to ankle issues, LaMelo Ball will need to stay healthy in 2024/25 if the Hornets hope to be competitive. As Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer writes, the star guard has shown in two preseason games what he’s capable of if he can stay on the court, piling up 42 points, 11 assists, and 10 rebounds in 42 minutes of action. Charlotte has outscored its opponents by 21 points during those 42 minutes. “He’s generational. I tell him that all the time,” former teammate Terry Rozier said. “That’s little bro. They are really good, but this team only goes as far as they have him, him being healthy and everything else. So, he knows what he has to do.”
No. 1 overall pick Zaccharie Risacher offered Hawks fans a tantalizing glimpse of his potential in his NBA debut on Tuesday vs. Indiana, per Lauren Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Risacher scored 18 points and was a team-best plus-15 in his 23 minutes off the bench. “I hate that this wasn’t the first game of the season where it counts for real,” Hawks guard Trae Young said. “That was a hell of a performance. That was a game, hell of a start. So for me, I want him to feel like how he felt tonight, and feel like there’s no pressure on him. He can go out there and be himself.”
Discussing his new three-year contract extension with the Magic, center Wendell Carter Jr. said on Tuesday that he’s “super excited” about the deal, according to Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel (subscription required). Carter credited the front office for its willingness to invest in the Magic’s core players and agent Mike Miller for working to get something done before the October 21 deadline. “I told him I wanted to be here, wanted to be here long-term, however long I can be,” Carter said. “I told him just to make it happen and that’s what he did for me.”

Southeast Notes: Poole, Heat, Hawks, Risacher, Carter, Lee

October 8th, 2024 at 2:44pm CST by Luke Adams

Jordan Poole was a little “quiet” and “standoffish” during his first year with the Wizards, according to Kyle Kuzma, who believes that was out of character for the 25-year-old guard and notes that he seems more comfortable entering his second season in D.C.

“I don’t think last year he necessarily was (Jordan Poole last season),” Kuzma said, per Varun Shankar of The Washington Post. “… We have the same agency, and I know for a fact from conversations that was not him. And I think that I see more of what Jordan Poole is now.”

As Shankar details, the Wizards’ plan to get the ball into Poole’s hands more and let him serve as a primary play-maker is one key reason for his increased comfort level. He had 16 points, six assists, and no turnovers in 22 minutes of action during Sunday’s preseason opener vs. Toronto.

“(Playing point guard has) allowed me to have more influence, more impact, get my hands on the offense,” Poole said, adding that his goal in his new role is to be “aggressive” and to “find ways to get my teammates involved.”

Here’s more from around the Southeast:

The preseason game between the Heat and Hawks originally scheduled to be played at Kaseya Center in Miami this Thursday has been postponed until Wednesday, October 16 due to Hurricane Milton, the Heat announced today (Twitter link).
This year’s No. 1 overall pick, Hawks forward Zaccharie Risacher, isn’t coming into the league with nearly as much as hype or pressure as some past top picks, but as his pro career begins, he’s still eager to reward the club’s confidence in him, as Lauren Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution details.
The three-year, $58.65MM contract extension that Wendell Carter signed with the Magic features a third-year team option, league sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). That means the deal will only include about $37.65MM in fully guaranteed money, with a $21MM option for 2028/29.
Having gotten a head coaching opportunity after what he estimates was 10 interviews with teams over the years, Charles Lee is focused on building a culture of togetherness with the Hornets, writes Jared Weiss of The Athletic. “I think that we try to talk about right now just our competitive habits and how we all affect each other,” Lee said. “Knowing that if one person isn’t holding up their end of the bargain or their end of the competitive bargain, then all of us are going to feel that.”

NBA GMs High On Thunder’s Offseason Moves, Celtics’ Title Chances

October 8th, 2024 at 9:40am CST by Luke Adams

The Thunder made the best roster moves during the 2024 offseason, according to the NBA’s general managers. Within his annual survey of the league’s top basketball decision-makers, John Schuhmann of NBA.com writes that 37% of his respondents picked Oklahoma City as having the best summer, with the Sixers coming in second place at 33%. The Knicks got 20% of the vote share, while no other club received more than a single vote.

It was one of many favorable outcomes in the survey for the Thunder, who were overwhelmingly selected as the team with the best young core — 60% of GMs selected OKC, compared to 20% for the second-place Magic.

New Thunder guard Alex Caruso was chosen by general managers as the most underrated offseason acquisition, receiving 23% of that vote share, while last year’s Most Valuable Player runner-up Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was picked as this year’s MVP favorite (40%), narrowly edging Mavericks star Luka Doncic (30%).

The Thunder also received a handful of votes from the league’s GMs as the team that will win the 2025 NBA Finals, but at 13%, they finished a distant second to the Celtics, who earned a whopping 83% of the vote. Besides those two clubs, only the Mavericks (3%) received a vote to become this season’s champions.

Here are a few more interesting results from Schuhmann’s GM survey, which is worth checking out in full:

New Sixers forward Paul George got 60% of the vote as the offseason acquisition who will have the biggest impact in 2024/25, followed by new Knicks Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns at 13% apiece. The Towns trade, meanwhile, was named the most surprising offseason move, eking out George leaving Los Angeles for Philadelphia (27% to 23%).
Unsurprisingly, Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama was the overwhelming choice (77%) for which player the GMs would most want to start a franchise with. Gilgeous-Alexander and Nuggets center Nikola Jokic each earned three votes in that category, while Doncic got one.
The league’s general managers are high on No. 3 overall pick Reed Sheppard — the Rockets‘ guard is their pick to win the Rookie of the Year award (50%) ahead of betting favorite Zach Edey of the Grizzlies (30%). Sheppard also comfortably received the largest vote share (43%) when the GMs were asked which rookie will be the best player in five years. Spurs guard Stephon Castle (17%) and Hawks forward Zaccharie Risacher (13%) were the runners-up in that category.
There was no consensus among the GMs on which 2024 draftee was the biggest steal. Wizards guard Carlton Carrington, Kings guard Devin Carter, Pacers wing Johnny Furphy, Lakers forward Dalton Knecht, Timberwolves guard Terrence Shannon, and Thunder guard Nikola Topic each received three votes to lead the way.
Among newly hired head coaches, Mike Budenholzer of the Suns is the one GMs feel will have the biggest impact on his new club. Budenholzer received 40% of the vote, beating out Kenny Atkinson of the Cavaliers and J.B. Bickerstaff of the Pistons (20% apiece). Meanwhile, Spurs guard Chris Paul (30%) and Raptors guard Garrett Temple (20%) are the active players that GMs feel would make the best head coaches down the road.
Asked what they’d change about the NBA, 20% of GMs said the rules related to the tax aprons, trades, and roster construction are too restrictive and/or should be “indexed to (a) team’s market,” per Schuhmann, making it the top response.

Eastern Notes: Hawks, Bulls, Knicks, Bucks

September 21st, 2024 at 3:06pm CST by Luke Adams

While Jalen Johnson and Clint Capela will almost certainly make up two-thirds of the Hawks‘ starting frontcourt, the other starting forward spot remains up for grabs, according to Lauren Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, who looks at six possible candidates for that role.

De’Andre Hunter looks like the best bet among the contenders for the job, but he was more effective off the bench than in the starting five last season, Williams notes, having made 49.1% of his shots and 42.0% of his three-pointers in 20 games as a reserve.

No. 1 overall pick Zaccharie Risacher and newly acquired guard Dyson Daniels are among the other options Williams examines. Daniels figures to spend most of his playing time in the backcourt, but could make sense at small forward if Atlanta starts Bogdan Bogdanovic alongside Trae Young in the backcourt and wants to complement them with an elite wing defender.

Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times explores some of the top storylines to watch in the Bulls‘ training camp this fall, including Patrick Williams‘ and Matas Buzelis‘ roles, Lonzo Ball‘s comeback from multiple knee surgeries, and which player will become the ninth man in Billy Donovan‘s rotation. Cowley projects Zach LaVine, Nikola Vucevic, Josh Giddey, Coby White, and Williams as starters, with Ayo Dosunmu, Jalen Smith, and Buzelis rounding out the top eight, which would leave Torrey Craig, Dalen Terry, Chris Duarte, and Julian Phillips fighting for regular playing time.
In a subscriber-only story for The New York Post, Stefan Bondy identifies six centers who may be available for trade before February’s deadline and could make sense for the Knicks. Some of the hypothetical targets Bondy lists (such as Nick Richards) are more realistic than others (like Deandre Ayton).
Eric Nehm of The Athletic outlines five lineups he’d like to see the Bucks employ this season, including a small-ball unit featuring Giannis Antetokounmpo at center and a floor-spacing group that includes Damian Lillard, Gary Trent Jr., and A.J. Green.

Jokic Tops Poll For Best Player; Gilgeous-Alexander Gets Nod For 2024/25 MVP

August 26th, 2024 at 10:14pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Nuggets center Nikola Jokic is the best NBA player right now but he’s not going to win another Most Valuable Player award next season.

That’s the majority opinion of the 18 NBA coaches, scouts and executives that ESPN’s Tim Bontemps polled. All but three of them believe Jokic is the league’s top player.

However, when the subject of next season’s MVP came up, Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander received seven votes. A handful chose Mavericks guard Luka Doncic with Jokic only receiving two votes.

The Thunder and Celtics are the solid favorites to emerge from their respective conferences and square off in the Finals. Boston received 13 votes to win the East, while Oklahoma City picked up 14 votes to emerge from the West. The Celtics received eight votes to repeat as champions, while the Thunder were chosen by seven members of the group.

There was no love for the top pick in the draft, Zaccharie Risacher.The Hawks big man didn’t receive a single vote for Rookie of the Year. The same goes for the topic of best player from the 2024/25 rookie class in five years. Grizzlies center Zach Edey garnered a panel-best eight votes for ROY, while Rockets guard Reed Sheppard was chosen by eight of them to be the best of the bunch in five years.

Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama got two-thirds of the vote for top overall player in five years.

And-Ones: Toscano-Anderson, 2024 Draft Class, Durant, FAs

August 13th, 2024 at 12:25pm CST by Luke Adams

Veteran swingman Juan Toscano-Anderson, who appeared in 11 games with Sacramento last season and spent much of the year playing for the Mexico City Capitanes, will be part of the G League United roster that plays a pair of exhibition games against Mega Basket in September (Twitter link).

In past years, the G League Ignite participated in those exhibition contests against international clubs — the most notable games occurred in 2022 when Scoot Henderson and the Ignite matched up against Victor Wembanyama and Metropolitans 92. However, with the Ignite no longer active, the NBAGL will put together an All-Star team of sorts for this year’s event.

Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Asked during an appearance on Podcast P with Paul George about No. 1 overall pick Zaccharie Risacher and the rest of the prospects selected near the top of his year’s draft, Hawks guard Trae Young suggested that there may not be any franchise players in the 2024 class. “Some guys might surprise us, but a lot of us look at them as role players,” Young said (hat tip to Clutch Points). “… Whether it’s Reed (Sheppard), who is going to be a hell of an NBA player or Alex (Sarr), who didn’t play well in Summer League, but is going to be a hell of an NBA player, a lot of these guys could be just role players, so I feel like the GMs this year were all probably just trying to figure out who is going to be the best role player for their team.”
Suns star Kevin Durant has become a minority stakeholder in the French soccer club Paris Saint-Germain, according to an announcement from his investment firm Boardroom (Twitter link). Sources with knowledge of the deal tell Peter Rutzler and Shams Charania of The Athletic that Durant and Boardroom bought a “single digit millions” shareholding in the club. Durant visited with the team while he was in France for the Olympics.
Who are the top free agents still available? Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report considers that question, ranking Cavaliers restricted free agent Isaac Okoro atop his list, followed by Markelle Fultz, Lonnie Walker, Cedi Osman, and Justin Holiday. Okoro, Fultz, and Osman are the only players from our June list of this summer’s top 50 free agents who are still seeking new deals.

Execs, Scouts Share Feedback, Predictions For 2024 Draft Class

July 31st, 2024 at 2:52pm CST by Luke Adams

Of the 20 NBA executives and scouts polled by Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo of ESPN.com (Insider link), 15 predicted that Hawks forward Zaccharie Risacher, the No. 1 pick in this year’s draft, will have a more successful NBA career than No. 2 pick Alex Sarr of the Wizards.

However, only one of those 20 respondents predicted that Risacher will end up being the best pick of the 2024 draft. Seven voters chose No. 3 pick Reed Sheppard for that honor, per Givony and Woo.

“Sheppard is going to help Houston right away, and I think he has a chance to be an All-Star down the road,” one high-level Eastern Conference executive told ESPN.

Trail Blazers center Donovan Clingan, who went seventh overall, was the second-leading vote-getter for the best pick of the draft, earning three votes.

“I thought [Clingan] was a steal on draft night at 7, but the things he did defensively in summer league were unreal with the impact he made,” one respondent said. “Now they have him shooting trail and pick-and-pop threes. If he starts making those consistently, that’s a game-changer with the way he can pass and protect the rim.”

Here are a few more of the most notable answers from the poll conducted by ESPN’s draft experts:

Pistons forward Ron Holland (No. 5 overall) and Bucks guard AJ Johnson (No. 23) each earned four votes for the biggest reach of the draft. “I feel bad for Cade Cunningham,” one source told ESPN. “They’ve been rebuilding for years even though they never planned on it, and this pick signals they might need to blow up the roster and start over again. I just don’t see how [Holland] plays with Ausar Thompson, Jaden Ivey and all their other young guys. That situation is a mess. Even when Holland was scoring in Vegas, it was so ugly to watch.”
Five of the 20 respondents picked Wizards guard Carlton Carrington (No. 14 overall) as the player who will become the biggest steal of this year’s draft, with one Western Conference executive comparing him to Tyrese Maxey.
Sheppard (seven votes), Grizzlies center Zach Edey (four), Spurs guard Stephon Castle (three), and Clingan (two) were the only players who were chosen by multiple respondents as their Rookie of the Year pick.
Feedback on this year’s two-day draft format was generally positive, according to Givony and Woo, with executives expressing appreciation for the break in between the two rounds that allowed them to do additional research ahead of day two. However, one GM criticized the decision to invite so many prospects to the green room, since it resulted in multiple players leaving Barclays Center after day one without being selected.
Here’s how one of ESPN’s 20 respondents evaluated the two-day format: “Some of the people in our front office didn’t like how much this second day helps the disorganized teams who typically wing it and can be taken advantage of from a strategy standpoint. But the pros far outweigh the cons when it comes to better drafting and decision-making. There were a ton of trades and I think next year you’ll see some real creativity now that we have a better idea for how the evening looks.”