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The NBA draft lottery took place in Chicago on Tuesday night, deciding the top three selections for the upcoming NBA Draft in late June. Once that day comes and goes and the Atlanta Hawks make their selection with the third overall pick (you can read about some early potential candidates here), the first opportunity to see the Hawks’ newest selection is at NBA Summer League.
The Hawks are featuring in both the Utah Summer League (at which new Hawks head coach Lloyd Pierce indicated he is coaching) and at Las Vegas, where they will be also joined by a familiar face: the 60th overall selection in 2017 draft, Alpha Kaba.
The news was confirmed by Hawks GM Travis Schlenk, speaking with 92.9 The Game on Tuesday morning.
Schlenk said that Alpha Kaba, who the Hawks drafted at #60 in 2017, will play with the Hawks again this summer.
— KL Chouinard (@KLChouinard) May 16, 2018
Kaba featured with the Hawks’ Summer League squad last year before signing a three-year deal with ASVEL of the Pro A in France — which also happens to be led by San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker, who is the team’s president.
For the season with ASVEL, the 22 year-old Kaba is averaging 5.4 points, 5.5 rebounds and 0.9 blocks per game in 16.1 minutes of action in 41 games played this season.
Kaba represents at least one returning member of the Hawks’ 2017 Summer League squad, with John Collins and Tyler Dorsey (among others) likely to join him.
As for the rest? Time will tell.