The Mavericks added another young, long forward to their rebuild on Sunday, acquiring former No. 1 overall pick Zaccharie Risacher in a three-team trade with the Atlanta Hawks and Oklahoma City Thunder. It’s a low-cost swing on a player whose career hasn’t taken off yet, and it fits the roster Dallas has been assembling around Cooper Flagg.
The Deal
ESPN’s Shams Charania first reported the trade, and the team later confirmed it. The Thunder sent Lu Dort to Atlanta, the Hawks shipped Risacher to Dallas, undrafted guard Ryan Nembhard went from the Mavericks to Atlanta, and three second-round picks landed with Oklahoma City. Dallas’s share of the cost came down to Nembhard and a 2027 second-round pick.
Money made the move even easier to stomach. The Mavericks used the $20.8 million traded player exception created by February’s Anthony Davis trade to absorb Risacher’s $13.8 million salary, so nothing additional went out the door. For a second-round pick and a guard who figured to lose minutes anyway, Dallas took on a former top pick without giving up anything close to that value.
Who Dallas Is Getting
Risacher went first overall in the 2024 draft, but Atlanta never got the return it hoped for. The French forward averaged 9.6 points and 3.8 rebounds last season as his role shrank, and he barely saw the floor in the 2026 playoffs, logging single-digit minutes across three appearances. Across his two seasons in Atlanta, he put up 11.1 points and 3.7 rebounds a night on 45.7 percent shooting.
There’s still a reason to bet on him. He’s only 21, he has real size on the wing, and he showed enough with France at EuroBasket in 2025 to suggest the raw tools that made him the top pick haven’t gone anywhere. Dallas is wagering that a fresh start and a lighter set of expectations bring more out of him than Atlanta got.
The Contract Wrinkle
The one catch is timing. Atlanta already exercised Risacher’s option for 2026-27, so he’s on the books at $13.8 million this season. His final year, 2027-28, is a $17.4 million team option, and the Mavericks have until Oct. 31, 2026 to decide on it. That forces a long-term judgment just a handful of games into his Dallas tenure. If they pick it up and he doesn’t pan out, they’re stuck with the bill; if they pass, he becomes a useful expiring contract to dangle in a future trade.
Fitting the Blueprint
Risacher slots into a clear plan. He’s the fourth international player Dallas has added in roughly a month under president Masai Ujiri and general manager Mike Schmitz. Spanish forward Santi Aldama came over in the Khris Middleton sign-and-trade, Spanish League guard Sergio De Larrea arrived in the draft, and Russian big man Vsevolod Ishchenko was a late second-round pick who has already drawn attention in Las Vegas.
The forward room is crowded, so Risacher wasn’t a need so much as an opportunity. What he gives Dallas is another young, rangy piece to develop alongside Flagg, plus the flexibility that comes with a controllable contract. On a roster built around size, youth, and international scouting, he’s a sensible bet for a front office that gave up very little to make it.
