After Phoenix and Sacramento, it was the Hawks’ turn to make their draft choice. Atlanta has decided to select the European phenomenon Luka Doncic… to better transport it to Dallas! In return, the Falcons recover Trae Young, chosen by Dallas with pick number 5.
Trade Alert !
The destination of Luka Doncic represented one of the big intrigues of this Draft 2018. Who will select the genius of Real Madrid? Will it be transferred? Here are the questions that arose before the big ceremony on Thursday. And a little before 2 a.m., the news broke. Trade alert! With their third pick, the Hawks therefore decided to set up a deal with the Mavericks, ranked fifth on the table. Selected by Atlanta, Doncic will play in Texas next season. The Dallas franchise has selected Trae Young, who is doing the opposite. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Falcons also pick up a future draft first-round pick as part of this transfer. Here is the recap.
Atlanta: select Luka Doncic with third choice, but transfer the latter to Dallas
Dallas: selects Trae Young with fifth choice, but transfers the latter to Atlanta in addition to a first round of Draft
Double or double for Atlanta!
This transaction shows several things. Obviously, the Hawks were not very keen on selecting Luka Doncic, despite the incredible season achieved by the Madrid prodigy. On the other hand, they were often linked with the name of Trae Young, and this choice confirms their interest in the Oklahoma sniper. On the Dallas side, recovering the Euroleague MVP was a goal, except the Mavericks were a bit low in the selection order relative to the player’s standing. This transfer is not necessarily a huge surprise in itself, but it shows that Doncic’s odds were not that high in the end.
By making this trade to get Young back, the Hawks took a risk. Luka Doncic, with his talent, his technique and his past with Real Madrid, has everything it takes to succeed in the NBA. He showed how strong he was by causing misery to guys much older than him, all in the Spanish league and in the Euroleague. In other words, he already knows the very high level and there is absolutely no reason for him to crash in the States. The Mavericks can therefore blow up the champagne, they who may have found the perfect successor to Dirk Nowitzki. For Trae Young, there are more question marks. Yes, the latter ignited the NCAA last season by being the leading scorer and the best passer in college. Yes, he has a sick shot and a pure technique. Yes, we might have Stephen Curry’s successor. But we are also talking about a player who may have difficulty adapting to the NBA game because of his physical limitations. We are talking about a guy who represents weakness in defense and who does not always make the best choices in attack. In short, we are typically in the case Boom or Bust.
Unquestionably, this transfer will do a lot of talk and will be analyzed lengthwise, broadly and across. Will the Hawks regret this choice in the future? It will obviously be necessary to wait to be able to answer this question but the franchise of Atlanta did not hesitate to take a risk.
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