SG/SF Dariq Whitehead (Duke)
Dariq Whitehead is somewhat of a similar profile to Jalen Johnson and AJ Griffin. They are all five stars and lottery talents who did/might fall out of the lottery for several reasons (for Whitehead it is a slew of injuries).
On the injury note, we have also seen the Hawks not be fazed by injury concerns heading into the draft in years past. For instance, a late emerging toe injury popped up in 2020, causing Okongwu to fall a bit, yet the Hawks still picked him sixth overall. Jalen Johnson only played 13 games at Duke in 2021 before opting out for the remainder of the season, but the Hawks still drafted him 20th overall.
AJ Griffin also slipped in the draft last year due to injuries before the Hawks nabbed him at No. 18. The point is, the Hawks have taken risks on players with similar cases as Whitehead, and it has worked out for them up to this point on all three of those previous picks.
Whitehead averaged 8.3 points, 2.4 rebounds, and one assist per game at Duke this past year. While he shot just 42.1% from the field, he knocked down an impressive 42.9% of his shots from deep. Whitehead is the rare player with inverse shooting splits. He shot a higher percentage from deep at Duke than he did from two.
That is a cause for concern about his 2-point scoring but does give you hope about his scoring ability from deep. It was not a great season overall at Duke for Whitehead, but he did show some things (such strong shot-making ability and quality size) that remind you he is a former five-star with possible top-10 pick talent.
The injuries are the biggest concern overall here though for Whitehead. He missed the beginning of the season at Duke and then dealt with more injuries once the season ended. He also must improve at finishing around the rim and answer some questions athletically. I think Whitehead has as high of potential as any player outside the lottery, but it will be risky. Many have compared Whitehead to Griffin last year due to the Duke connection, the 3-point shooting, and the injury concerns.
The projections on where Whitehead gets picked seem to be all over the place in mock drafts due to injury concerns. No. 15 might be slightly high, but it would not surprise me if the Hawks stay put to take him there. It also would not surprise me if the Hawks elect to move back a couple of spots to pick Whitehead if he is their guy. It just all would depend on what the Hawks perceive his value to be to the other teams picking around them.