Sarr cancels visit with Hawks, confirms GM, could they still draft him?

The Atlanta Hawks are on the eve of making one of the most important string of decisions in franchise history. General Manager Landry Fields will be tasked with the ultimate decision on the future in his backcourt while simultaneously making the first selection in tomorrow's NBA Draft.

To make things even more interesting, rumors surfaced that one of the favorites to be that the first selection, Alexandre Sarr, declined a visit to Atlanta to work out for the Hawks.

In an interview on 92.9 The Game on Tuesday, the Hawks' General Manager confirmed those reports to be true.

"[Sarr] was scheduled to come to work out, we had it on the books," Landry Fields confirmed with The Steakhouse on Tuesday morning. "And then he declined to come work out."

Fields also knows whether or not Sarr worked out for other NBA teams during the pre-draft process, but declined to share that information.

The Hawks' GM also confirmed that he has been receiving calls to trade the number one pick, but he still plans to make that selection barring a late offer worth taking.

"We have had calls on the number one pick," Fields said. "But I continue to say that unless something wows me, then we're going to pick number one. That's still as true today as the last time that I said it."

Later on in the interview, Steak Shapiro asked the Hawks GM what defines an NBA champion in the modern age, and the answer could indicate where the team could be leaning.

"I think for the modern age of basketball, shooting is a premium. It's premium skill to have," he said. "If you have those, and you do a good enough job on the other side of the job in defending and limiting scoring of the other team, then you put yourself in a pretty good position."

That description could fit either Alex Sarr or fellow Frenchman and likely top-three pick, Zach Risacher. However, Sarr is still a player who needs to develop that part of his game, and Fields, without naming names, teased that much and why it may not disqualify him.

"It is safe to say that shooting will always be a premium," he said. "Whether they have that now, or if it's something that we can develop over time."

Only time will tell what the Hawks inevitably do with their number one pick in Wednesday's draft, but there should be plenty of avenues for the franchise to get better.