How No. 1 draft pick Zaccharie Risacher’s debut season compares to previous selections

The Atlanta Hawks had the pleasure of being the number one pick this season and had no hesitation in selecting only the fourth national player, the first to be drafted in NBA history.

The player was Zaccharie Risacher, a hot draft prospect who entered the NBA after impressing for JL Bourg-en-Bresse of LNB Elite, France’s premier professional basketball league.

The Frenchman averaged 10.1 points, 3.8 rebounds and 0.9 assists in his final season in France before his wildest dreams came true.

Risacher recently thrilled fans with an impressive performance against the outstanding Cleveland Cavaliers.

Statistics for Zaccharie Risacher’s debut season

It’s safe to say that Risacher didn’t exactly rock the league in his first few appearances for the Hawks, but he has been a regular on the team so far, starting in 19 of the team’s 21 games.

The striker struggled in his first few games, shooting just 25% from distance in the first 18 games of the season.

He has since started to gain some confidence, posting the highest score of his career in the team’s impressive 121-116 win over the New York Knicks last month.

The rookie is averaging 11.6 PPG, 3.5 RPG and 1.4 APG. At first glance, these numbers may seem like nothing special, but his performance in recent games has been on an upward trend.

Previous international players have been selected first overall in the NBA draft

Risacher is in different company when you look at other international stars selected as the NBA’s first overall draft pick.

Victor Wembanyama’s latest selection needs no introduction. Selected first overall by the San Antonio Spurs in last season’s draft, Wembanyama has broken out in the NBA and is feared by opponents across the league.

In his debut season, Wembanyama averaged 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 3.6 blocks per game. He led all NBA rookies in points, rebounds and blocks per game averages. Some try to follow Risacher.

The other two international players selected first in the draft were Italy’s Andrea Bargnani, who moved to the Toronto Raptors in 2006, and China’s Yao Ming, who was signed by the Houston Rockets in 2002.

Bargnani, a power forward, averaged 11.6 points, 3.9 rebounds and 0.8 assists in his debut season. In his ten-year NBA career, he never really managed to live up to the hype surrounding his arrival.

Center, Yao Ming, played nine seasons with the Houston Rockets, where he was named an NBA All-Star eight times. Ming’s career was plagued by injuries and he retired in 2011. His efforts throughout the NBA were rightly recognized when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame and his number 11 jersey was retired by the Rockets.

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