What once looked like a franchise-defining draft for Dallas now carries lingering questions about what could have been.
On NBA Draft night in 2018, the Dallas Mavericks pulled off one of the most efficient combo moves in recent NBA history. Dallas traded down from the fifth overall pick in a deal with the Atlanta Hawks, acquiring Luka Doncic while sending Trae Young and a future first-round pick to Atlanta.
Later that same night, Dallas found another franchise-changing player.
With the 33rd overall pick, the Mavericks selected Jalen Brunson, the reigning Naismith National Player of the Year and a two-time national champion at Villanova who unexpectedly slipped into the second round because of concerns about his size and athletic profile. Every NBA team passed on him once in the first round. Dallas did not.
For four seasons, Brunson steadily developed into one of the league’s most reliable guards while playing alongside Doncic. Then the 2022 playoffs changed everything.
When Doncic suffered a left calf strain before the opening round against the Utah Jazz, Brunson took over the offense completely. In Game 2, he scored 41 points without committing a turnover, becoming the first player in Mavericks postseason history to accomplish that feat. He averaged 27.8 points during the series and helped carry Dallas all the way to the Western Conference Finals.
That offseason, however, the Mavericks chose not to offer Brunson a contract extension.
Brunson ultimately signed a four-year, $104 million deal with the New York Knicks, a move that now looks like one of the most consequential free agency decisions of the decade.
On Monday night, Brunson led New York to a sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers, sending the Knicks to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999. He was unanimously named Eastern Conference Finals MVP after averaging 25.5 points, 7.8 assists and 3.3 rebounds while shooting 48.7% from the field during the series.
He opened the series with 38 points in an overtime comeback victory after New York erased a 22-point deficit in Game 1. He then closed out the Cavaliers with a dominant Game 4 performance in a 130-93 blowout that extended the Knicks’ postseason winning streak to 11 games.
What once looked like the beginning of a long-term dynasty in Dallas now feels considerably more complicated.
The Mavericks drafted both Doncic and Brunson on the same night and briefly appeared positioned to control the Western Conference for the next decade. Instead, Doncic is gone, Brunson is leading another franchise to the NBA Finals and Dallas is left reflecting on how quickly championship windows can disappear when elite talent walks out the door.
