Mark Cuban Opens Up About The Famous Draft Day Trade That Landed Him Luka Doncic
Whether it's fair of not, for the rest of their careers Luka Doncic and Trae Young are going to be compared to one another. That's what happens when there is a blockbuster Draft Day trade that helped shape each franchise for the foreseeable future. As far as I could find, this was really the first time we've head Cuban open up about that whole process and what went down in order to bring Luka to Dallas. It's certainly the first I've heard of it and what I love about Cuban is he's usually pretty honest. One thing has been made clear when it comes to Cuban and the Mavs, he's willing to do whatever he can to make them a contender. Trades, opening the checkbook, it doesn't matter. He has to be one of the best owners in the entire league in that regard. He saw an opportunity to snag his next franchise player and he took a chance. You have to give him credit for that.
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Watching him talk about Luka, you see the same sort of look on Cuban's face as if he was talking about Dirk or Nash. That's true love right there and maybe the fact that Luka is a bonafide STUD has a lot to do with it. What I loved about this video though was the whole process of how that draft trade went down. We as fans don't usually get to hear about all that stuff and I find it fascinating. Of course it was Cuban who came from the clouds and hammered out the final deal with the Hawks. Owners love taking credit for that shit, Wyc with the Celtics still talks about it with the Big 3 trades. At the time it was certainly a gamble, but it was clear that Luka was their guy from the jump. Also loved that little nugget that the Mavs were going to take Giannis if he fell to 18. I'm sure.
Looking back on that trade, it is pretty crazy how well it worked out for everyone involved. Luka came into the league and dominated from the first minute and has played himself into an MVP candidate in just his second year. The Mavs offense is the best in the league despite not having Porzingis for a bunch of games.
Then you have Trae Young. While the Hawks record is horrendous, he's a guy putting up 29/4.7/8.6 while making 3.5 3PM a night. He's third in the league in scoring! Luka is 4th. It really is a trade that ended up being about as even as you could imagine.
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Now even if you'd prefer Luka long term, there's no denying that of all the high lottery trades we've seen in recent years, this one has worked out the best for everyone involved by far. It was pretty cool to hear Cuban open up about that whole process and now I need to know what was going through Vlade's mind with the Kings. Remember they passed on both of these dudes and was it because they already had De'Aaron Fox? I'm not sure that totally explains passing on Luka who is big enough to play off ball, and it's not that Marvin Bagley stinks but I would love to get a behind the curtain look at how that all went down.