Hawks could consider Donovan Clingan with No. 1 pick

When the Atlanta Hawks were shockingly awarded the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, it wasn’t immediately clear who they would want.

After the lottery, it looked like Alex Sarr was the most likely option for the Hawks. But other recent mock drafts, including those from Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Wasserman, had Atlanta selecting Zaccharie Risacher instead.

New reports suggest Atlanta will consider multiple candidates when they hit the click.

Risacher remains “firmly in the mix” at No. 1 overall, according to ESPN, while Sarr “is also on the short list of options” for Atlanta. But according to Jonathan Givony, another name to watch is Donovan Clingan:

“The draft lottery hasn’t done him too much favor, though, putting teams with established starters at the center position at Nos. 3, 4 and 5, which could drop him a little more than his overall ranking. big board does not indicate it would be surprising to see teams like the Portland Trail Blazers or the Memphis Grizzlies try to move up on draft night to land their starting center of the future There are rumors, however. which Clingan reportedly has fans among the Hawks’ No. 1 constituency, meaning there’s plenty left to play for between now and June 26.

Our latest mock draft currently has Clingan falling to the Grizzlies, another team rumored to have interest in the big man, at No. 9 overall.

But the Hawks would also make sense for Clingan, given that he’s a back-to-back collegiate national champion who could make an immediate defensive impact.

With about a month until the draft, Sarr (-260) still remains the favorite with an implied probability of 72.2 percent. Risacher (+240) also has a solid chance at this point.

Clingan (+1,200) is considered a long-term target with an implied probability of just 7.7 percent. But there are reasons why it makes sense for a team like the Hawks that is likely looking to win the lottery sooner than other teams.