Mavs Pipe-Dream Trade Preview? Luka Doncic Throws Lob to Zion Williamson

The Dallas Mavericks are in a good place right now, coming off their first NBA Finals appearance in 13 years and looking for more during the 2024-25 season. However, the “NBA lottery gods” didn’t do the Mavs many favors before getting to this point.

During the 2018 lottery, the Mavs had the third-best odds but ended up with the fifth pick. That pick, along with a future first-round pick, was traded in order to move up to third to draft Luka Doncic. It was a trade that wouldn’t have been necessary had Dallas stayed at third on lottery night.

Then, during the 2019 lottery, the Mavs had the same odd (tied for seventh) as the New Orleans Pelicans and Memphis Grizzlies. The Pelicans moved up to the No. 1 pick to draft Zion Williamson, the Grizzlies moved up to the No. 2 pick to draft Ja Morant, and the Mavs fell to No. 10, conveying their pick to the Hawks from the Doncic trade one year prior.

To be completely fair to the “NBA lottery gods,” they did allow the Mavs to retain their No. 10 pick in the 2023 draft, which ultimately led to Dallas drafting Dereck Lively II. However, that was the very least they could’ve done, as the Mavs would’ve conveyed their pick to the New York Knicks had it fallen below No. 10.

Over the weekend, Doncic and Williamson gave Mavs fans a glimpse of what could’ve been… or what could be in the near future, as No. 77 threw an impressive alley-oop to the super-athletic New Orleans forward at a Jordan Brand event in China.

As much talk as there has been about Doncic and Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic potentially teaming up at some point in the future, perhaps we should start warming up to the idea of Doncic and Williamson joining forces. Both of the Jordan Brand athletes seem to enjoy each other’s company when they meet up for events.

As talented as Williamson is, he hasn’t been able to fully live up to his No. 1 pick hype due to several unfortunate injuries. There were rumors last season regarding the Pelicans considering trading Williamson. If New Orleans doesn’t take a positive step forward this coming season, we’d expect more rumors to heat up.

As for the Mavs, who needs lottery luck when you have Doncic, Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, and GM Nico Harrison to entice players to come to Dallas? The Mavs won’t be in the lottery for a long time to come.