How many times have Atlanta Hawks picked in first place in the NBA Draft? Who did they select?
The Atlanta Hawks have the top pick in the NBA Draft for the first time since 1975. They have had four No. 1 picks in their history, none have worked out.
All eyes are on the Atlanta Hawks who have the first pick in the NBA Draft that starts on Wednesday from Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn, New York. The Hawks weren’t billed as the favorites to land the #1 pick, but fortune fell upon them in the lottery, and they will be hoping their selection can turn the franchise around in the coming years.
Hawks win one pick against all odds
The Hawks were one of the least likely teams to wind up in this situation when their name fell on the fringe of the lottery selection. They ended the season 36-46, which is bad, but not bottom of the barrel bad in the NBA. Atlanta made the Play-In Tournament with the 10th and final spot in the East, but lost to the Chicago Bulls and missed out on the playoffs.
They went into the the offseason with a 3% chance of having their ball drawn last in the lottery, but outlasted the Detroit Pistons and the Washington Wizards who both had 14% chances of getting the first pick. That 3% was the fourth shortest odds at landing the No. 1 pick in the history of the lottery. The Orlando Magic have the record at 1.52% back in the 1993 draft.
The Hawks haven’t been awarded the first pick since the lottery was implemented in 1985. It’s the fourth time ever they have been the top pick in the draft and the first time since they took David Thompson out of NC State almost fifty years ago.
Thompson was drafted No. 1 over all by both the Virginia Squires of the ABA and the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA. In the end he didn’t sign with either of the two teams that drafted him and wound up in Denver playing for the Nuggets who were in the ABA at the time. Thompson would go on to be named an All-Star four times and made the NBA First Team twice, but the Hawks had to watch from a distance.
The first pick jinx
The franchises first one overall pick came back in the 50s when they were still the Milwaukee Hawks. They took Mark Workman with the opening pick of the 1952 Draft, but instead of playing with the Hawks he went on tour with the Harlem Globetrotters before returning to the NBA only to play for the Philadelphia Warriors and Baltimore Bullets.
Luck continued to evade them when they drafted Dick Ricketts with their second No. 1 pick overall just three years later. In 1955, he was drafted by the Hawks who had moved to St. Louis by that time, and that worked out conveniently considering he was also under contract with the MLB team the St. Louis Cardinals. He played half the season for the Hawks, averaging 8.4 points, 6.8 rebounds in 29 games but the Hawks had to sell his contract to the Rochester Royals because he was going to be pitching for the Rochester Red Wings that next spring.
The Hawks now have the top pick for the first time in the lottery era, and hope that this time, their selection will stick around for a while. While the No. 1 pick of this year’s class isn’t surrounded by as much hype as Victor Wembanyama last year, there are some good players at the top of the board. The Hawks will have their choice of two Frenchman, Zaccharie Risacher and Alex Sarr or any of the top talents on the draft board in what has been called an underwhelming draft class.