NBA Draft Winners and Losers: David Griffin is back, Suns not shining, where OKC Thunder land
By Rylan Stiles
The Dallas Mavericks were without a first round pick this year, something that will be said a lot in the upcoming NBA Drafts as the organizations went for it by trading Trae Young and a first round pick to the Atlanta Hawks for the rights to soon to be named rookie of the year Luka Doncic.
At the trade deadline, the Mavericks gave up Dennis Smith Jr., Wesley Matthews, DeAndre Jordan, and two future first round picks for a package headlined by Kristaps Porzingis, who is often referred to as a unicorn for his unreal talent, pairing two young international talents together in Dallas as they pardon their longtime legend Dirk Nowitzki into retirement after 21 years with the franchise.
Dallas Mavericks fans and front office brass alike have been living on cloud nine since nabbing Luka and the unicorn, just waiting for the 2019-20 season to start after of course, they try again to make a splash in the free agent market. (Hopefully, it goes better than the first time the club tried to land DeAndre Jordan, or that time Cuban took a swing at Dwight Howard, or that time…okay we could be here all day)
But with the 37th pick in the NBA Draft, the Dallas Mavericks…traded their pick to the Detriot Pistons with three first-round talent level players on the board (Bol Bol, Jontay Porter, and Talan Horton-Tucker)
The trade was not that big of a deal as they acquired the 45th pick from the Detriot Pistons. Before the Mavericks were put back on the clock, Bol Bol was selected by the Miami Heat and drafted to the Denver Nuggets.
When the Mavericks turned their draft card in, Jontay Porter is a name that could have been written on it, but instead, Dallas picked Nebraska wing, Isaiah Roby.
Roby is the first misstep that Donnie Nelson has taken in two years, and for it to come in the second is better good for Maverick fans.