ATL trading Luka or LAC trading Shai?

[RoyceDa59]

Which franchise altering move will go down as more painful?

ATL trading 20 year old Luka or LAC trading 20 year old Shai, who are now both top 3 MVP candidates at age 25 with a decade to go?

[Onus]

LAC. They actually had SGA in the building and saw it first hand and still traded him.

[Texas Chuck]

I mean one team traded SGA before we knew he was SGA for both PG and Kawhi. One team traded the best prospect since AD for Trae Young.

You can try and play hindsight games, but even then the Clippers have fared better than the Hawks. But the only way to judge these decisions is in the moment and its not close that the Hawks made the far bigger mistake.

[HoopsterJones]

ATL trading Luka for Trae is worse.

[PeteyPablo]

Clippers at the very least have made a Conference Finals appearance.

OKC has yet to make a playoff run. Maybe this year they will do that.

It might be Clippers vs Thunder in the second round.

[Ssj16]

ATL trading their pick to get Trae is 1000 times worst.

Could you imagine Luka in the east for the past 5 years?

[niQ]

Would have to say ATL trading Luka for Trae.

The Trae trade rumors don't help either...

[NoDopeOnSundays]

ATL trading Luka.

Theres nobody in the world that thought SGA would turn into this type of player. The signs were all there that Luka was a generational player, winning Euro basket in 2017, then following that up with a championship and MVP with Real Madrid. You could argue he'll get into the basketball hall of fame just for what he did when he was 18 and 19 the Hawks absolutely blew it

[Slimjimzv]

Clippers at the very least have made a Conference Finals appearance.

OKC has yet to make a playoff run. Maybe this year they will do that.

It might be Clippers vs Thunder in the second round.

What would you consider a 'Playoff Run'? Even if they lose in the 2nd round, I feel a round one sweep qualifies.

[BarbaGrizz]

It´s pretty clear that ATL made the biggest mistake (I don´t even know if we can call LAC´s actions a mistake)

[ChiTownHero1992]

This is ATL and it isn't even close....Luka is miles ahead of Trae and they will continue to play against each other for years, Shaig was traded to pair an al-star with a superstar both of which are about to age out of the league. Clippers gambled on win-now rather than later, where as ATL just f***** it up....

[dirkforpres]

At least LA knew what they were getting... Atlanta was just gambling.

[One Last Shot]

Atlanta got Cam Reddish as their prize for trading Luka to Mavericks while the Clippers got Kawhi(reigning Finals MVP) and Paul George(3rd in MVP voting) as their prize for trading a 2nd year player SGA who averaged 10+ ppg in his rookie season along with multiple draft picks. Any GM will do that trade for Clippers while the Hawks thought they are being smart but they got bamboozled instead.

[PistolPeteJR]

Clippers at the very least have made a Conference Finals appearance.

OKC has yet to make a playoff run. Maybe this year they will do that.

It might be Clippers vs Thunder in the second round.

So have the Hawks.

[UcanUwill]

At least LA knew what they were getting... Atlanta was just gambling.

Just like Atlanta, I also liked Trae as prospect a lot, but they really didnt know what golden goose they had in their hands. I imagine Hawks didn't even anticipate Luka could be there at number 3, their plan to trade down was probably there the whole time, and they did that. The only question for Luka seemed to be, will he go number one or number two. Vlade was just ultimate fool, Atlanta at least got what they wanted. Its like Austria declaring war to Serbs, hey, they accomplished their mission, it just started world war in the process and turned everyone against them, but they anexed the thing they wanted....

[kbitboc]

Would Atlanta draft Trae at number 3 if they never made that trade?

[UcanUwill]

Would Atlanta draft Trae at number 3 if they never made that trade?

I don't think we know the answer, but I assume yes. They only traded back two spots, he was their guy. The real hero is Mavs going into the draft with fifth pick, and ending the night with Luka Doncic.

[Texas Chuck]

Would Atlanta draft Trae at number 3 if they never made that trade?

I don't think we know the answer, but I assume yes. They only traded back two spots, he was their guy. The real hero is Mavs going into the draft with fifth pick, and ending the night with Luka Doncic.

If I recall right Atlanta publicly claimed on draft night they had the two players roughly the same so getting Trae plus the future pick felt like a win. I can't imagine an actual NBA franchise didn't have a real preference though which makes me think they had Luka higher, but obviously they didn't know what they could have had or were irrationally high on Trae or perhaps both.

But my guess is no trade, they take Luka.

But yeah I remember being all-in on Luka then Dallas won a meaningless game to end the season then lost a coinflip then didn't move up in the lottery and I gave up hopes. How they came away with Luka is crazy. How they came away with him for dirt cheap is crazier still.

First you had to have the Suns governor overrule his basketball people who had signaled they were taking Luka because they hired his coach. Then the Kings had to draft Bagley because he told them they were pretty while the other top picks were avoiding the Kings. Then the Hawks who had a miracle fall in their lap had to fumble the ball.

And no other teams bothered making an offer to Atlanta once they were open to dealing--plenty of teams could have outbid Dallas, but simply didn't bother. And this wasn't Dirk who Dallas had tried really hard to hide pre-draft. The whole world knew Luka was a a beast, even if some refused to believe it because he never played Missouri.

[dhsilv2]

That luka trade had to have been the worst trade in real time I've ever seen.

[Shock Defeat]

Third answer: the Kings for drafting Marvin Bagley over Luka