The Dallas Mavericks traded Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for a comically unimpressive return. Could the New York Knicks have offered them more?
This is the question Bobby Marks of ESPN endeavors to answer for all 28 teams that were not part of the Dončić trade. It is at once a weird and valuable exercise to go through now.
Months separate us from Dallas' generational blunder, a blockbuster NBA trade so shocking not just because of the who and why, but because the Mavs ostensibly punted on due diligence, and the league-wide bidding war it would have incited in favor of covert negotiations with, like, one or two teams other than the Lakers.
Every trade rumor typically includes a “What is the most other teams can and should offer for Player X?” cycle. Dončić’s exit from the Mavs never did. On the bright side, we can still go through it today.
Many of the hypothetical offers underscore the indefensible incompetence with which Dallas operated—and, frankly, continues to operate. (Seriously, I have not seen this many people united against a common enemy since the portal scene in Avengers: Endgame.)
Is the Knicks’ Luka Doncic trade proposal one of them?
Karl-Anthony Towns Heads to Dallas in ESPN Trade Proposal
Here is the trade package that Marks suggests:
This is the cleanest framework relative to New York’s asset stash and financial situation. As a team hard-capped beneath the second apron, the Knicks could not send out more money than they receive. Towns’ salary ($49.2 million) is roughly $6.2 million higher than Doncic's price point ($43 million), so this satisfies that criteria without knifing into the total body count of the rotation.
Granted, there are other permutations to explore. Attaching Mikal Bridges or Josh Hart to OG Anunoby works. New York could also have combined Bridges and Hart along with a third smaller salary.
Would New York Have Made This Luka Doncic Trade?
Building a Dončić trade around Towns invariably feels like the right way to go, if only for its simplicity. And there’s really no debating whether the Knicks green light it. They would.
Plugging minutes at the center position instantly becomes a chore without Towns. Mitchell Robinson did not debut this season until Feb. 28, more than three weeks after the deal. Even now that he’s back from left ankle surgery, he’s not logging the minutes required to be considered a primary 5.
Big whoop. We are talking about Luka freaking Doncic. You trade Towns, and then figure out the rest later. It may not even have been particularly hard. New York would have time to suss out a big-man deal after indulging Dallas’ quest for self-sabotage, and approximating playable value at center doesn’t have to be expensive.
Maybe you keep Jericho Sims in this alternate universe. Or sign Bismack Biyombo. Or trade for Duop Reath. Maybe you even more aggressively see what Hart, Precious Achiuwa, and/or Deuce McBride can get you ahead of the 3 p.m. EST buzzer beater. You can live with any outcome for the rest of this season when it includes nabbing Luka.
Hesitating over how Doncic's impact on Jalen Brunson is fair. It cannot be a deal-breaker. The two have played together before, and Brunson still ranks above the 70th percentile in both off-ball gravity and off-ball efficiency, according to BBall Index.
Touches for Anunoby and Bridges would be more heavily affected. That’s fine, too. Both see at least 75 percent of their buckets come off assists, and neither ranks inside the top 125 of total on-ball time per game.
Doncic, meanwhile, quietly spent more time playing off the ball himself—and at a faster pace—over the past two seasons in Dallas. Even if his fit isn’t seamless, it’s far from complicated, let alone unnavigable.
Knicks Grade: A+ (duh)
Should the Mavs Have Called the Knicks?
Compare the Knicks’ offer to the rest of the league, and there’s no way they have anything close to the best package. But this isn’t about beating everyone else. It’s about outstripping the Lakers. To that end, here’s what the final trade looked like:
- Mavericks Receive: Max Christie, Anthony Davis, 2029 first-round pick (unprotected)
- Lakers Receive: Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleber, Markieff Morris
- Utah Jazz Receive: Jalen Hood-Schifino, Dallas’ 2025 second-round pick, 2025 L.A. Clippers second-round pick (via Lakers)
New York’s offer fails to beat what Dallas actually accepted. Even if the Mavs view Davis and Towns as comparable assets (debatable), the Knicks do not have the sweeteners post-Bridges trade to make up the balance.
Including swaps (in 2026 and 2030) along with McBride might help. Perhaps it cancels out Christie. But the inability to promise Dallas a flat-out first-rounder undermines whatever package New York could cobble together.
Roping in more teams and using Hart or Bridges to acquire draft picks that get rerouted to the Mavs is a path that could have been explored. Except, then you run into the issue of materially gutting the top of your rotation.
Perhaps Doncic is worth that type of midseason deconstruction. This presumes Dallas would have interest in Towns and letting New York canvas the league for reinforcements. Either way, the Knicks’ path to beating the Lakers’ offer is far from assured, potentially impossible.
Fortunately for them, and unlike L.A., they don’t need a Doncic-level blockbuster to vault them into title-contention ranks. They may already be there.
Dan Favale is a Senior NBA Contributor for FanSided and National NBA Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Bluesky (@danfavale), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes.