Well, the NBA Draft is finally here, and the Atlanta Hawks wasted no time in dashing the hopes of anyone who wanted to see the team take one of the top 2 players in this draft class in Luka Doncic.
We’ve been exceptionally high on Doncic since he’s been on our radar in the lengthy buildup to the 2018 NBA Draft, but it seems that GM Travis Schlenk and Co. disagreed with our beliefs, as they promptly traded the rights to Doncic to the Mavericks for the #5 overall pick and a future first round pick.
Though we’re still in knee-jerk reaction territory, this already looks to be a huge misstep by Hawks brass, as Doncic projects to be one of the best players in this draft – if not the best.
Doncic can pass, handle, shoot, and he has solid size at 6-foot-8 and 230 pounds. The Hawks were in need of the best player available, which Doncic certainly would have been at #3 overall.
Atlanta and Dallas have agreed to a deal, league sources tell ESPN. They'll trade Nos. 3 and 5 picks, sending Luka Doncic to Dallas and Trae Young to Atlanta, sources said. Dallas will send Atlanta a future first.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 21, 2018
Instead, the Hawks got cute and traded back, something that we are on the record as saying is a bad idea.
You might be asking yourself, what wonderful bounty did the Hawks get in return for Luka Doncic, perhaps a player with the highest floor and perhaps the highest ceiling in this draft?
Well, it’s underwhelming. Dallas will draft for Atlanta at #5 overall, and apparently the Hawks want polarizing point guard prospect Trae Young out of Oklahoma. The team also get Dallas’s 2019 first round pick, but the kicker is it’s a protected pick: If that pick lands at #1-5, Dallas retains it.
Clearly, Schlenk was ready to wheel and deal in this draft, and he got the ball rolling immediately by dashing our dreams of seeing Doncic in a Hawks uniform.
Now, let’s hope Young is able to recreate his prolific scoring outputs from his lone college season.
Next: 7 Players the Hawks Could Select 19th Overall
Either way, I guess Quavo knew more than we thought during the buildup to this draft.