It’s the week of the NBA Draft, and who the Atlanta Hawks will take with the number one overall pick is still very much up in the air. However, according to ESPN's Jonathan Givony French forward Alex Sarr, who was widely mocked to the Hawks right after the Hawks won the number one overall selection via the NBA Draft Lottery, would prefer to go to the Washington Wizards over the Hawks. Earlier today The Morning Shift talked about these rumors and reports and discussed how the Hawks should proceed if Sarr does in fact prefer Washington over Atlanta.
“If he was Victor Wembanyama I would draft him and ask questions later, roll out the red carpet and say dude we’re happy to have you.” Mike Johnson said, but that would be if Sarr was the prospect that Wembanyama was, and while Sarr has Wembanyama type potential he’s not Wemby, and because of that Mike says he would probably not draft Sarr.
“I’m airing on the side of if he doesn’t want to be here I don’t want him, but that’s only because I think everybody is this draft, and we’ve seen and I’ve talked about it with the mocks, you have six different players mocked at number one, you’re not that dude far enough and away to where you can start demanding where you want to go and where you don’t want to go.” Johnson said.
In his newest mock draft with Jonathan Givony, ESPN's Jeremy Woo explained why Sarr might see the Wizards as a more attractive fit.
"He is thought to be comfortable coming off the board one spot later, with the Wizards' younger roster offering a clearer path to playing time and an opportunity to grow into an expanded role," Woo wrote.
Multiple reports also indicate that the Hawks have yet to be able to schedule a personal workout with Sarr, so it seems like there is fire within all of this smoke, and at the end of the day like Mike said if he doesn’t want to be here, Sarr at least right now, isn’t that great of a prospect to where Atlanta should draft him anyway.
However, if the Hawks play their cards right maybe they can at least force the Wizards to trade up for Sarr, and get even more draft capital to help them rebuild the Hawks back into a legit contender.