In the 2018 NBA Draft, the Atlanta Hawks made a move that will haunt the franchise forever. With the third pick that year, they drafted Luka Doncic before trading him to the Mavericks for Trae Young.
At the time, it was seen as a win-win for both sides, and that narrative was pushed even further when Trae led the Hawks to the Conference Finals a few seasons ago.
But now, with Trae and the Hawks struggling and Luka coming off a historically great performance, fans are finally ready to determine who lost that 2018 draft-day trade.
“For years now we’ve had to put up with this “it’s a win-win trade” narrative. The main argument for it being a win-win was that Atlanta got another first for it – that first turned out to be Cam Reddish who is no longer on the team and can’t even crack the Knicks rotation.
I’d say the gap between Luka and Trae has always been fairly sizeable but now the gap between the two of them is greater than ever, Luke’s moved into best player in the league conversation whilst Trae is having his worst season since his rookie year.
The argument that the Hawks receiving Reddish made it a fair trade never made much sense to me but now he’s been moved on for practically nothing the argument is completely dead in the water.
They definitely didn’t fuck up as bad as the Kings, probably didn’t fuck up as bad the Suns but it was absolutely still a fuck up. Luka in that Hawks team puts them right up there in Championship contention… (via u/Fleeuton).”
Trae is not a bad player by any stretch. In fact, any true NBA fan will tell you that Trae, even now, is one of the top point guards in the game.
Did The Hawks Really Lose The Trae Young Trade?
Unfortunately for Atlanta, Trae is not quite the generational talent that Doncic is and it’s hard to argue they wouldn’t be in a much better position today had they kept Doncic.
“Atleast Trae Young is a multi time all star and has all nba honors. Both Bagley and Ayton haven’t done either of those things.”
“Dallas won that trade no doubt.”
“Agreed. Too many suns fans don’t want to admit it. We chose the local legend instead of best person available.”
“Dallas for sure won that trade, but Trae Young is still a beast. I don’t like how Luka’s success will always downplay Trae’s value for the Hawks.”
“Its a weird argument to begin.. yes luka is better. Can the hawks even be that mad? Trae is an elite talent.”
“Yeah Lukas better but Traes on pace to be a Hall of Famer too. It’s not that bad”
“Dallas won the trade, but we should really be shitting on the Suns and the Kangz. Bagley needs no explanation. And even tho Ayton is an above average player, and the Suns needed a big…you just don’t pass on a talent like Luka.”
Looking back, you have to admit that the Hawks lost that trade. No disrespect to Trae Young, but Luka would have elevated the Hawks to another level.
For what it’s worth, though, neither Luka nor Trae has won a title yet. So if Yong wants to prove all the doubters wrong, there’s still time for him to beat Luka to the ultimate prize.
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