NBA Rumors: Zaccharie Risacher, Donovan Clingan, Top Prospects Invited to 2024 Draft

Scott Polacek@@ScottPolacekFeatured Columnist IVJune 12, 2024

Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images

Some of the best prospects in the 2024 NBA draft will reportedly attend the event in person.

ESPN’s Jonathan Givony revealed a list of the prospects who received a green room invite to attend the draft on Tuesday, and it includes two candidates who will potentially be the No. 1 pick in Zaccharie Risacher and Alex Sarr, as well as UConn’s Donovan Clingan and Stephon Castle, among others.

Here is a look at the list:

Zaccharie Risacher, JL BourgAlex Sarr, Perth
Donovan Clingan, UConn
Reed Sheppard, Kentucky
Matas Buzelis, G League Ignite
Stephon Castle, UConn
Dalton Knecht, TennesseeRon Holland, G League IgniteCody Williams, ColoradoDevin Carter, ProvidenceJa’Kobe Walter, Baylor 
Tidjane Salaun, Cholet
Kentucky’s Rob Dillingham will likely join the list, although he still has to satisfy certain requirements.

Givony explained that he would fulfill those requirements by finishing the rest of his NBA Scouting Combine activities with shooting drills and athletic testing at the Los Angeles Lakers’ practice facility on Friday.

He was previously sidelined by an ankle injury.

While Dillingham, along with players such as Clingan, Castle, Knecht and Sheppard, are familiar names for college basketball fans, it seems like the No. 1 pick will come from the international game.

Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Wasserman projected Risacher as the No. 1 pick in his latest mock draft. He also projected Sarr as the No. 2 pick with Sheppard the first collegiate player taken by the Houston Rockets at No. 3.

The Atlanta Hawks have that No. 1 pick, and Wasserman believes Risacher could play alongside Trae Young or Dejounte Murray with his off-ball shotmaking and ability to play in transition.

“In a draft where there isn’t an obvious, sure-thing All-Star at the top, Risacher’s floor and valued three-and-D archetype could give him an edge with a team that saw AJ Griffin struggle with injuries and Saddiq Bey go down late to an ACL tear,” Wasserman wrote.

Atlanta will be under the spotlight this offseason seeing how it has not made it out of the first round of the playoffs since the 2020-21 campaign, and it could decide to make drastic changes with a trade or free-agency move.

For now, though, Young and Murray are both still on the roster and could use Risacher or Sarr to make plays elsewhere on the floor.

Both will be in attendance to find out who hears their name called with the No. 1 pick.