Stéphane said he and wife, Sandrine, tried to make basketball enjoyable for Zaccharie and Ainhoa, while also being intentional about teaching the game. But it was not with an end goal of raising the NBA’s first overall pick.

“You don’t think about this,” he said. “You just do things the best you can. I don’t want to be like, ‘We trained them for this.’ We tried to make sure that they have fun playing.”

And yet, starting out from the backyard court in Lyons, they have reared children who are among the world’s best for their age. Last summer, Ainhoa led the France U-16 national team to the European championship and was named the tournament MVP. And, out of the millions of young basketball players in the world who were poured into the funnel that ultimately would identify the first pick of the 2024 NBA draft, Zaccharie emerged.

“Very proud of Zaccharie,” Stéphane said. “We all are.”

La Famille Risacher is bound by more than le basket. Late in the evening on draft night in New York after he had been chosen No. 1 and fulfilled his media obligations, he melted into tears as he was embraced by his family. I asked Risacher what interests he had outside of basketball. His answer was spending time with Ainhoa.

“We’re really close to each other,” he said. “We grew up together, and just seeing her makes me happy and makes me disconnect from the real life.”

At the best court of the world, one of Stéphane’s priorities was cultivating in his children an all-around game, to be able to perform every aspect of the sport.

“And when you get these habits, then you are ready to go for the next level because you are going to be aware of every aspect of the game,” he said. “I always teach like that.”

Stéphane’s son absorbed the message as he moved up the French club system. His favorite player growing up was Kevin Durant, precisely because of his versatility.

“I like to think that he can do everything,” Risacher said. “The fact that he looks unstoppable, that’s something that I’m looking for. That’s where I try to take inspiration.”

That ability to do multiple things well was part of his allure to the Hawks, who turned down offers to trade out of the No. 1 slot in order to ensure they could acquire the player they identified as the best player in the draft pool. A day later, it again proved an attractive commodity in another wing prospect, Serbian wing Nikola Djurisic.

“For these guys, just playing at that wing position with the athleticism scores that they have and size that they have and different components about their games, the versatility, that give us a really nice canvas for our group and allows our coaches something really fun to work with,” general manager Landry Fields said about his two newest additions.

In Risacher, the Hawks now have a wing player who shoots the 3-point shot well for someone his size, moves smartly without the ball, runs the floor well and can defend multiple positions. There are questions about the heights he can reach as a pro, but the Hawks at least have a player who appears committed to exploring the limits of his potential.

“(Hawks fans) are going to see somebody who is ready to die on the court,” Risacher said. “I’m just the kind of player who’s going to give everything.”

The best court of the world would ask for nothing less.

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