HALLELUKA: Luka Clinches All-NBA 1st team. 4th in 5 years

[omahen]

Would anyone here consider trading Luka for the #1 pick and a big package with that #1? Draft Wimby and try to do it right this time. Let's say it's the #1 pick in the draft, a borderline all star, a desirable young player and 3 future firsts. That's a huge haul, but no player of Luka's stature has ever been traded at 24 years old.

I think this line of thinking is crazy in the first place. Mavs already have a (at least) top 10 player in the league. That is the most difficult thing to achieve. There is absolutely no guarantee Wemby (as great as he looks) will become a top 10 player. But let me entertain this idea anyway.

The proposal you are giving is that basically a team is selling everything they have for Luka. In the end you do need two stars to build around. Detroit, Houston and San Antonio are most likely to get a number one pick. Which of this teams is able to give up all the assets for Luka and still hope to be able to build around him? They would be extremely limited in building around him. I think it makes way more sense for any of them to pick Wemby and use all their assets to build around him, hoping he becomes that top 10 player you need. 

I would say a way more realistic possibility is that someone that is halfway there trades the future for Luka. Sort of what Phoenix did with Durant. New Orleans for example could offer one of Ingram or Zion, a couple of their young players and a bunch of picks and hope the remaining core would be a contender. Toronto has a perfect team to surround Luka. Barnes and (lets say) Anunoby plus all the picks for Luka could make the remaining core a contender. OKC with Holmgren and whatever salary fillers and gazillion of picks is an option that would make sense for OKC.