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The 2024 NBA Draft Lottery took place on Sunday afternoon, and the Atlanta Hawks defied the odds and secured the 1st overall pick in June’s NBA Draft. But even with this mid-May victory that took place at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago, the summer of 2024 could turn out to be a tumultuous one for the Atlanta Hawks.
The Hawks enter the offseason with their backs up against a wall after missing the postseason this year. The Trae Young/Dejounte Murray pairing appears to have run its course after just two seasons together, and rumblings around the league indicate that Young could be on the move soon enough. And unfortunately for Atlanta, the 2024 NBA Draft doesn’t seem to be providing much hope of a brighter future.
The 2024 NBA Draft class has been widely-panned as one of the weakest in recent memory, with no prospect having clearly emerged yet as the eventual #1 pick. With that said, according to ESPN’s Zach Lowe, there is one player who has emerged as a consensus top target on nearly every team’s draft board.
“There is no consensus No. 1 pick, though several team officials and agents gathered in Chicago for the draft combine told ESPN that center Alex Sarr is the one player most likely to fall in the top two or three of almost every team’s draft board. Beyond that, it’s chaos. Team officials expect several teams might investigate the return for trading down a few slots — only to have trouble finding a trade partner eager to deal meaningful assets to move up.”
Who is Alexandre Sarr?
Alex Sarr is a French-born 19-year-old center who is currently the projected top pick in mock drafts on ESPN.com, The Ringer, and NBA.com. The seven-foot-tall Sarr played two seasons in the Overtime Elite before heading to Australia to play for Perth Wildcats of the NBL. He’s the younger brother of Olivier Sarr, who has played 46 games for the Oklahoma City Thunder over the last three seasons, while spending most of his time playing for the Thunder’s G-League affiliate, the OKC Blue.
Sarr could become the second-consecutive French-born player to be the #1 pick in the NBA Draft, following in the very large footsteps of Victor Wembanyama, who after an historic first season in the NBA was unanimously named the league’s Rookie of the Year. But just because Sarr and Wembanyama both call France home, they are by no means similar prospects.
Wembanyama had been penciled in as the eventual number one pick of the NBA Draft from the time he was 15 years old. He is unequivocally the most-hyped rookie the NBA has seen since LeBron James entered the Association back in 2003. Wembanyama delivered on all of the hype, and appears to have a Hall of Fame career ahead of him. Meanwhile, Alex Sarr is a raw prospect whose potential may intrigue teams around the league, but is not even close to being on the level of his countryman.
Alex Sarr averaged 9.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game last year for Perth, modest numbers in just seventeen minutes per game. Sarr is extremely athletic and has fluid handles for a player his size. It’s easy to imagine him rounding into a capable defender at the next level, says Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, who believes that Sarr is, “so mobile that he’ll be at his best in a switch-heavy scheme. As a defender in space, he’s very good at closing out to contest shooters or flying in to help with his length at the basket.”
But even with all of those listed pros, there are still enough questions about Sarr’s immediate and long-time impact that it’s by no means a slam dunk that Atlanta will use the #1 pick on him.
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