The Atlanta Hawks dealing Luka Doncic shortly after drafting him is one of the more underrated horrible trades in sports history, and an “all-time” moment in Atlanta lore, just behind “28-3” and Sherman’s March.
The Hawks trading Luka is in the same category as the Milwaukee Bucks sending Dirk Nowitzi to the Mavs for Robert “Tractor” Traylor.
On Wednesday evening at the American Airlines Center, the main piece of the Hawks’ 2018 draft day trade of Luka to the Mavericks remains in their starting lineup, while Doncic ... we don’t need to say the rest.
The Hawks have not given up on Trae Young, which creates the narrowest of cracks to ask the question if they indeed “won” the original Luka trade. With all of the details and knowledge of the last seven years available, should the Mavericks have stuck with their original 2018 first round pick?
(Work with me here, people; the Mavs are under .500 and don’t figure to be much of a threat in the playoffs).
The case for Trae Young
A detail often lost is the “all in” effort the Mavericks made in 2017-’18 to acquire Doncic. The team aggressively tanked that season, and finished 24-58, a few wins better than the worst in the NBA.
Then Mavs GM Donnie Nelson, who along with his dad loved European basketball players almost as much as they loved Mark Cuban’s money, had targeted Doncic for years.
Neither the Suns nor the Kings, who owned the first two picks in the draft, selected Doncic. The Hawks picked Doncic third, and the Mavericks selected Oklahoma’s Trae Young fifth overall.
At the time, Young proved to be a brilliant deep shooter and ball handler in his one season with the Sooners. He was the closest college player we had seen since Steph Curry, who entered the NBA in 2009. He changed basketball with his ability to hit 27-foot shots.
The Mavs immediately traded Young and their 2019 first round pick, which was top-five protected, to Atlanta for Doncic. That pick was used to select Duke’s Cam Reddish.
Young is not some bum at the end of the bench, or stealing NBA money. He is an All-Star. He also ain’t Steph. In seven NBA seasons, Young averages 25.3 points and 9.8 assists per game.
Watching him cut up the Mavs defense for 25 points and 12 assists on Wednesday night, he’s still an elite scorer.
Assessing the Luka for Trae Trade in 2025
If you wanted to re-do the 2018 draft, Young is a top three pick, behind Doncic and Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. SGA was somehow the 11th overall pick.
The problem is the Hawks have not surrounded Young with decent complementary pieces, and he’s not big enough to carry an NBA team to 50 wins. Like Doncic. Like SGA.
In Young’s career, the Hawks have had two winning seasons and been to the playoffs three times. They are likely to finish with a losing record this season, but make the play-in round.
They did reach the 2021 Eastern Conference finals, where they lost in six games to the eventual NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks. During that run to the East Finals, Young had more than a few “Did you see what he just did moments?” particularly in a series win against the New York Knicks.
That has been the pinnacle for Young and the Hawks together; while they went flat, Doncic and the Mavericks ascended. He was an All-NBA player, the Mavs made the Western Conference Finals in 2022, and NBA Finals in 2024.
But there was an ownership change, and general manager Nico Harrison had the blessing to re-make the Mavs roster the way he wants, which is without Doncic. Trading Doncic for Anthony Davis changed the league.
The Mavericks will not look like the way Harrison wants for approximately 10 more months, when guard Kyrie Irving returns from his ACL injury. That’s best case scenario.
With Davis, Dereck Lively and Daniel Gafford all playing for the first time together on Wednesday night, their height gives the Mavs a matchup that will be a major problem for teams.
Lost in the hurt and anger of the trade is that Davis is a Hall of Fame player. When he plays. Davis hit the game-winning runner with 3.4 seconds left against the Hawks for a two-point win.
Young’s rainbow attempt to win the game on a last second 3-pointer, over Davis, hit only air.
The early return on the Young-for-Luka trade is that the Hawks lost; Trae is a great player, but he’s not a generational. And the Mavs’ first round pick in ‘19 turned into a journeyman guard who is now Luka’s teammate in L.A.
Considering everything that changed on Feb. 2, at least the Hawks can still say they didn’t give up on their All-Star from the 2018 draft whereas the Mavericks did.