Apr 7, 2023; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (77) scans the crowd during the second quarter against the Chicago Bulls at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
NBA: Chicago Bulls at Dallas Mavericks
Reports that a player of Luka Doncic’s stature could be traded if the Mavs don’t get their you-know-what together were basically the red alert to end all red alerts (second to if Damian Lillard ever asked out of Portland).
Dallas would be foolish to start laying down contingency plans for a Luka trade, but say they really don’t see how their current roster (that was gutted for Kyrie Irving) can’t cut it in 2024. Where should he go?
Here are four possibilities:
The Thunder Skip The Last Phase Of Their Rebuild
Mavs get: A ton of picks
Thunder get: Luka Doncic
The Thunder have a really good team right now only held back by inexperience. Combine that with their tradable assets (12 first rounders), and this is a team that can acquire a superstar and not make it a sacrifice. How would Luka fit around SGA, Giddey, and company? Just fine. Imagine the Chet Holmgren-Luka Doncic pick and roll. Now that’s championship basketball.
New York Reunites Brunson With His Former Co-Star
Mavs get: RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, and Obi Toppin (probably)
Knicks get: Luka Doncic
All this talk of a Brunson-Doncic bromance has only come to the fore since Brunson is doing great while Luka is floundering despite being paired with an objectively better player in Kyrie. But JB would make a great recruiter, and Luka would pair nicely with him and Julius Randle to form a frightening top-heavy monster right out of the Brooklyn Nets playbook.
Brad Stevens Tries His Hand At World Domination
Mavs get: Jaylen Brown, Payton Pritchard, and two other rotation pieces
Celtics get: Luka Doncic
If there was ever a reason to divorce Brown and Jayson Tatum, getting Donic would be it. If Boston is willing to severely dismantle a roster that was a few better games away from a ring, they could have the best duo in the league with Doncic and Tatum. Filling out the squad with some decent pickups in free agency, and you have a team in the East that theoretically has a winning matchup with everyone except Philly and Milwaukee. This deal would arguably make the Mavericks the deeper team overall, though, and I can only imagine the irony of Jaylen Brown and Kyrie Irving being teammates again.
Phoenix Sells The House At Above Market Price
Mavs get: Everyone remotely good not named Kevin Durant
Suns get: Luka Doncic
Doncic and Durant. Them in the same uniform would be an overkill the likes of which the league has never seen…if the NBA decided to become a two-on-two league. But if the Suns were willing to part with Devin Booker and friends, commit to this experiment, and take a chance on bargain bin players, you’ll create a team that will sell out every single night. And who knows? Maybe they’ll find a way in a fractured West. But this is, admittedly, a nightmare scenario for the NBA. The Gobert trade on steroids.
