I’ve been covering the NBA for around six years and in that time, there have been plenty of shocking trades around the NBA.
But none were even close to the Luka Doncic trade, which has to be up there with the most shocking and unlikely trades in NBA history, as you just don’t see teams move top-5 players who are in the prime of their careers.
The Mavericks were rightfully skewered for even wanting to make this trade and even more so when fans saw the return was just the talented but always injured Anthony Davis.
Not only that, but they handed the Lakers a generational superstar in his prime, a strange move considering they are in the same conference.
Dallas was also criticized for not shopping Luka around to get the best deal, as there were myriad teams that could have offered up more in terms of both talent and draft assets.
Bobby Marks of ESPN recently theorized what every other team in the NBA could have given up for Luka Doncic, an exercise that shows just how badly Dallas botched this trade.
He came up with an interesting one for the Detroit Pistons that would definitely make them pause.
Grade the trade: Luka Doncic to the Detroit Pistons
Here is the deal Marks came up with for Detroit:
In this deal, the PIstons give up two of their young wings along with Tobias Harris (for salary purposes) and two first-round picks in exchange for Luka.
This would be a lot of depth for the Pistons to replace (particularly at the trade deadline), as Harris is their only real power forward and Ausar Thompson and Ron Holland II represent most of their talent on the wing.
But Luka is the type of player that would be hard to pass up regardless of the cost, as he is a top five guy in the league and just entering his prime, and you don’t get chances to land guys like that very often.
If the Pistons could have gotten him without giving up Cade Cunningham, they would almost have to have done it, as they would have two of the best guards in the league in one backcourt and you just figure the rest out. They still would have had Jaden Ivey, Jalen Duren, Isaiah Stewart and their best shooters, though the defense would have taken a big hit.
If Detroit could swap out Ausar Thompson for Jaden Ivey this deal would be more palatable, as they’d at least have kept some of their depth and defense on the wing.
Obviously, this trade didn’t happen and wasn’t ever even discussed, but it’s an interesting one, as it asks the question of how much depth is too much to give up for one guy, even if that guy is a superstar.
It would have been a tough pill to swallow but Pistons fans would move on pretty quickly if Doncic was the reward. I don’t like all of the details of this trade, but any move that brings back Luka is going to get a high grade.