In 2020, the Dallas Mavericks made a draft night offer that, if accepted, might have changed the trajectory of the entire NBA.
According to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, the Mavericks attempted to trade Jalen Brunson, the No. 18 pick, and the No. 31 pick to the Sacramento Kings in a bold attempt to draft Tyrese Haliburton. They were all-in on pairing Haliburton with Luka Doncic, a potential backcourt duo that could have dominated the league for the next decade.
But the Kings said no.
At the time, Brunson wasn’t the All-NBA star we know today. He was a promising but modest contributor off the bench, averaging 8.2 points and 3.3 assists for a Mavs team built entirely around Doncic’s brilliance.
The idea was simple: surround Luka with another elite playmaker who could shoot, pass, and run the offense in spurts to keep him fresh and unburdened. Haliburton, coming out of Iowa State with a high basketball IQ and a versatile offensive game, fit that bill perfectly.
Fast forward to 2025, and the ramifications of that failed trade are hard to overstate.
Tyrese Haliburton is now the face of the Indiana Pacers, leading them to the NBA Finals for the first time in over two decades. His court vision, elite passing, and clutch shot-making have transformed Indiana into a legitimate title contender.
Meanwhile, Jalen Brunson left Dallas in 2022 and blossomed into an All-NBA force in New York, carrying the Knicks to the Eastern Conference Finals this past season.
As for Luka? He was shockingly traded to the Los Angeles Lakers midseason after tensions with Mavericks management and concerns over his conditioning and fitness.
That one trade that never materialized may have sealed the Mavs’ fate.
Imagine a Dallas team with both Luka Doncic and Tyrese Haliburton — two unselfish, high-IQ creators who could have taken turns orchestrating the offense while keeping each other fresher over the course of a season.
Haliburton’s emergence could’ve unlocked Luka in new ways, reducing his workload, spacing the floor, and increasing the team’s overall fluidity. It’s the kind of complementary pairing teams dream of building.
Instead, Dallas held onto Brunson for two more seasons, only to lose him for nothing in free agency when he joined the Knicks. They failed to capitalize on his value, missed out on Haliburton, and struggled to surround Luka with the right pieces until 2024.
The ripple effect of that one missed opportunity cascaded over several seasons, ultimately leading to the blockbuster trade that sent Doncic to the Lakers.
It’s one of the great “what-ifs” in recent NBA history.
The Kings, to their credit, held onto Haliburton before flipping him to Indiana for Domantas Sabonis — a deal that drew heavy criticism at the time but resulted in mutual success for both franchises. But for Dallas, that missed chance in 2020 feels heavier with each passing season.
The Mavericks tried to bet on the future. The problem? They never got the deal done. And the league hasn’t looked the same since.
