Sarr the Hawk? Atlanta nabs top pick in NBA draft lottery

The Perth Wildcats young gun attended the event as the Hawks received the prize No.1 pick for the 2024 NBA Draft.

It was the first time Atlanta had clinched the top pick in the lottery.

Sarr is the front-runner to be selected with the top pick, with respected NBA draft experts Kevin O’Connor (The Ringer), Jonathan Givony (Draft Express), Sam Vecenie (The Athletic) and Krysten Peek (Yahoo Sports) among those predicting Atlanta to swoop on the exciting French teenager.

“I’m really excited,” Sarr told Andscape after the draft lottery.

“I just found out what the order is. It tells me what team I’m going to work out with.

“The Hawks are an exciting organisation. They are trending in the right direction. It’s great that they have the No. 1 pick.”

It would be a historic result for the NBL if Sarr has his name called out for, with no other NBL product before him achieving that feat.

Former Illawarra Hawk LaMelo Ball is currently the highest ever pick from the NBL, going at No.3 to Charlotte in the 2020 NBA draft.

Other potential destinations for the Wildcats’ NBL24 Next Star recruit include Washington Wizards, who claimed pick two, and Houston Rockets (three).

Sarr’s draft stocks soared in his debut season in the NBL, where he averaged 9.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game off the Wildcats’ bench.

He went from a projected top-20 pick when he arrived in Perth during the off-season to a regular atop the draft boards on the back of his performances as a Wildcat.

The NBA Draft will be held on June 26-27 in New York.