After the season ended, Zaccharie Risacher said his playing time kept shrinking. With his production fading, Jonathan Kuminga’s arrival tightening wing minutes, and Risacher limited to seven minutes per game against the New York Knicks in the playoffs, Atlanta
Zaccharie Risacher didn’t sugarcoat it after Atlanta’s season ended. His frustration was blunt, personal, and impossible to miss: “It was a pretty frustrating season because the playing time I got just kept decreasing over time.”
For most young players, a tough year can be brushed off as growing pains. But Risacher’s comments landed in a context that already looked shaky. His numbers didn’t just dip; they drifted in the wrong direction as the season moved forward, and his role tightened instead of expanding.
He entered the season hoping to build on his rookie campaign. Instead, his scoring, minutes, and overall offensive involvement declined throughout the year. The only areas that showed modest improvement were rebounding and steals. For a player expected to become a cornerstone piece. that kind of regression creates pressure—on him. and on the organization that invested early.
The hardest part wasn’t even that the production fell. It was the way the season progressed. Rather than earning a larger role as opportunities should have widened with time, Risacher’s chances became increasingly limited. His frustration seems to come from that reality more than anything else: young players can accept development takes time. but they still need meaningful minutes—time that lets them learn in real games. not only in theory.
That question—whether Atlanta can keep giving him the floor he needs—grew more difficult after a major roster move.
The turning point arrived when the Hawks acquired Jonathan Kuminga before the trade deadline. Kuminga quickly became a major part of Atlanta’s rotation. He established himself as one of the team’s most important players, and the Hawks became more competitive after the move.
But basketball doesn’t happen in separate rooms. Kuminga’s arrival altered the pecking order on the wing, reducing the minutes available there and pushing Risacher further down.
As the season stretched on, the situation became harder to ignore. And if Atlanta re-signs Kuminga this offseason, it would only deepen the challenge of imagining a clean pathway toward a significantly larger role for Risacher.
Then the playoffs arrived, and they offered a sharper look at where things stand.
In the Hawks’ first-round series against the New York Knicks, Risacher was largely absent from the rotation. He averaged only seven minutes per game and struggled to make any meaningful impact. For a former No. 1 overall pick. that type of postseason usage doesn’t just sting—it forces a question: how much space is actually left for him within the organization’s immediate plans?.
Risacher still has a case to be made on the talent side. He is 21 years old, and the argument that his best basketball remains ahead of him isn’t a stretch. He has size, versatility, and long-term upside.
The real issue is whether Atlanta is the right environment for that upside to become reality.
Young players usually need consistent opportunities, patience, and room for mistakes—things that allow skills to catch up to expectations. But the Hawks are no longer operating from that position. After returning to the playoffs as a top-six seed, Atlanta is clearly focused on winning now. That timeline doesn’t always line up with what a developing prospect requires.
There’s also what Atlanta is likely to do next: Kuminga is expected to remain a priority, and the Hawks continue to pursue roster upgrades. In that kind of setup, the fit for a player who needs minutes to grow becomes increasingly complicated.
None of this guarantees a split. Risacher could still become a very good NBA player, and a different kind of opportunity might still unlock him. But his own frustration—and the path his season took—suggests something uncomfortable: the developmental needs of a young No. 1 pick may be colliding with a team’s competitive ambitions.
Whether that collision leads to a trade this offseason remains unclear. Still, as Atlanta pushes toward contention, the possibility of Risacher and the Hawks eventually heading in separate directions is starting to feel less hypothetical than it did months ago.
Zaccharie Risacher Atlanta Hawks Jonathan Kuminga New York Knicks playing time playoffs trade talks NBA