Former No. 1 pick could be key to Hawks' pursuit of Anthony Davis

The Atlanta Hawks traded Trae Young to the Washington Wizards to clear long-term salary for another star. If they want to add that star before the trade deadline, it might mean No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher is leaving Atlanta.

Washington sent veteran guard CJ McCollum and forward Corey Kispert to the Hawks in the deal. Thanks to NBA trade rules, the two players' salaries can't be aggregated together in a deal before the trade deadline on Feb. 5. In order to match the salary of rumored trade target Anthony Davis, the Hawks will have to find contracts elsewhere, and their options are limited.

Anthony Davis will be a tough salary match

The Dallas Mavericks big man makes $54.1M this season, tied for the fifth-highest salary in the NBA. To get close enough to AD's salary, the Hawks would have to use Kristaps Porzingis and his expiring $30.7M contract, with McCollum ineligible. That still leaves them short of the approximately $43M they'd have to send back to the Mavericks to make the trade legal.

The Hawks have options. There's Luke Kennard, making $11M this season on a one-year deal. They have various minimum-salary deals they could include with Kennard to get over the $43M mark, notably N'Faly Dante, who is out for the season following ACL surgery. But every additional player they add to the deal would require the Mavericks to waive an additional player, complicating a potential deal further.

That's why Risacher's $13.2M deal is so useful. A trade with Porzingis and Risacher alone would satisfy the league's trade requirements and might satisfy the Mavericks' desire for young players to build around Cooper Flagg. It would also allow the Hawks to keep what might be their most valuable trade asset: A 2026 first-round pick from the New Orleans Pelicans.

Zaccharie Risacher hasn't improved in his second season

Risacher is still only 20 years old, but he hasn't produced like a No. 1 pick so far. His scoring numbers are down (12.6 PPG to 11.2 PPG), his rebounding has slightly declined and he's getting to the foul line less and making fewer free throws — only 64.2 percent, a troubling number for a player who's supposed to be a shooter.

The 6-foot-8 forward still has potential, particularly on the defensive end of the floor, but he hasn't displayed a lot of star potential so far. If the Hawks are set on adding 32-year-old Davis, are they also willing to wait on the development of a player who's 12 years younger than him?

But the Mavericks are building around 19-year-old Cooper Flagg, and might welcome the idea of having two No. 1 picks together in their frontcourt. His addition to the trade could allow the Hawks to hold onto their future picks, the most tempting being a first-round pick in next year's draft that's the better of the Pelicans and Milwaukee Bucks' selections.

New Orleans is 8-31 and 5.5 games behind the NBA's fifth-worst team, making it likely they'll have a 14 percent chance at the No. 1 pick and a 52.1 percent chance of picking in the top four of a loaded draft. The Mavericks could ask for this selection, but they could consider Risacher a sufficient alternative.

It's early to give up on Risacher. But if the Hawks want to add Davis, dealing their young forward may be the only way.