2025 NBA Mock Draft: Newest Mock Has Atlanta Selecting French Point Guard With Upside And Mountain West Prospect

The Atlanta Hawks' offseason has been underway since their play-in loss to the Miami Heat and two of the biggest dates when it comes to the NBA offseason is the draft lottery and the night of the draft. Both nights will be huge for the Hawks.

The NBA settled the tiebreakers for various draft scenarios and they worked out very well in the Atlanta Hawks' favor.

Atlanta will likely have two picks in the upcoming NBA Draft. They lost a coin flip to the Sacramento Kings, but that turned out in Atlanta's favor. The Hawks own the Kings pick if it falls outside the top 12 and Sacramento will only have a 3.8% chance to climb into the top four and a less than one percent chance to get the top pick. Anything can happen, but Atlanta is likely to get the pick, which would be huge for them and their roster.

The other good news for the Hawks is that the Lakers won a tiebreaker with the Denver Nuggets, the Indiana Pacers, and the LA Clippers. Second, third, and fourth place in the tiebreaker drawings went to Indiana, the LA Clippers, and Denver. Atlanta got the Lakers pick in the deal that sent Dejounte Murray to the Pelicans. The Hawks will own the No. 22 pick in the draft and unless the Kings jump into the top four of the lottery, they will have the No. 13 pick as well.

So who could the Hawks take in this draft, assuming that they keep both picks? In the latest mock draft from Bleacher Report's Zach Buckley, Atlanta gets a backup point guard and some forward depth:

13. Atlanta Hawks (via SAC): Nolan Traoré, PG, Saint-Quentin

Odds to win lottery (via SAC): 0.8 percent

Odds for top four (via SAC): 3.8 percent

Pro Comparison: Jeff Teague

"Traore has enough speed to put opposing defenses on their toes, and then the vision and awareness to probe whatever openings that separation creates.

His long-range shooting is (hopefully) coming along, but he already has impressive touch on his floaters and runners.

If he doesn't develop as a shooter or defender, he'll be tough to plug into anything more than a change-of-pace reserve role. But if that outside shot ever perks up, it would simultaneously up his impact as a playmaker.

There's enough upside here for Atlanta to consider slotting him behind Trae Young or even seeing him as the heir apparent."

22. Atlanta Hawks (via LAL): Nique Clifford, SF/PF, Colorado State

Pro Comparison: Josh Hart

"Age and level-of-competition are both potential arguments against the 23-year-old Clifford. The arguments for him, though, are about as numerous as an admittedly favorable Hart comparison would indicate.

He hustles, he defends, he rebounds, he distributes and, based on what he showed at Colorado State, he might create out of isolations and post-ups, too.

Dominating the Mountain West is a much different challenge than thriving in an NBA role obviously, but the tools might be in place for a super-utility player."

Traore is not a prospect who has been mocked to the Hawks much, but there is a potential fit there. Even going into this past season, the backup point guard was a question mark for the Hawks and while there was some hope to see how Kobe Bufkin would do in that role, he missed the entire season with injury. The Hawks need a reliable ball handler to bring in when Trae Young goes to the bench and Traore, who was once thought to be a potential top-five pick, could take that role and do it well. He could also need a year to develop

Nique Clifford (6'6 200 LBS) is an older guard who got progressively better over the course of his college career and was the catalyst of Colorado's State's March Madness run. He averaged over 18 PPG, 4.4 APG, and 9.6 RPG this past season and is a career 36.4% three-point shooter. He would give the Hawks another wing option to bring off the bench.

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