{"id":593062,"date":"2026-02-09T19:00:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T19:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/593062\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T19:00:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T19:00:17","slug":"mavericks-stumbled-on-hilarious-luka-doncic-coincidence-it-could-be-perfect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/593062\/","title":{"rendered":"Mavericks stumbled on hilarious Luka Doncic coincidence (it could be perfect)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5j\">The Dallas Mavericks trading Luka Doncic was one of the most brutal moments in NBA history, and it seemed like everyone knew it was a bad decision. However, in an ironic twist of fate, they somehow got back a guy who was selected before Doncic in their follow-up deal that shipped out Anthony Davis: Marvin Bagley III. And he already looks like a sneakily good addition.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5m\">In the 2018 NBA Draft, the Sacramento Kings selected Bagley with the second-overall pick, just one selection before Doncic. The Mavs traded up to pick Doncic, and ever since, the Kings have been mocked for their pick. But now, eight years after that draft, Bagley is a Maverick, and he actually looked solid in his debut.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5p\">Bagley playing well for the Mavericks has the chance to be <a href=\"https:\/\/thesmokingcuban.com\/dallas-mavericks-unexpectedly-trade-player-kings-thought-better-luka-doncic-marvin-bagley\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a very funny twist of fate<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Mavericks got Marvin Bagley III back (in aggregate) in the Luka Doncic trade<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5v\">Obviously, when the Mavericks traded Doncic, they sent him to the Los Angeles Lakers, and in return, they got back Davis. However, the Davis era in Dallas didn\u2019t last long.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5y\">The Mavs have since fired Nico Harrison, who made the Doncic trade, and traded Davis in a deal to the Washington Wizards, in which they got back Bagley.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"61\">Obviously, Bagley wasn\u2019t the shining star of the Davis trade. There really wasn\u2019t one. The Mavs should just be happy to be off of Davis\u2019 long-term money.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"64\">That said, in his first game in Dallas, <a href=\"https:\/\/thesmokingcuban.com\/mavericks-underrated-silver-lining-from-anthony-davis-trade-already-paying-off\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bagley looked pretty good<\/a>. And he could end up being a decent player for them, which would be hilarious, considering how linked he will always be with Doncic.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"67\">In his first game as a Maverick, a 138-125 loss to the San Antonio Spurs, Bagley came off the bench and ended up playing 24:23\u2014the fourth-most minutes on the team that night.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6a\">Bagley finished the game with 16 points, a team-high 12 rebounds (including eight offensive boards), two assists, one steal, and a game-high four blocks. He shot 6-of-14 from the floor and 1-of-1 from beyond the three-point arc.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6d\">If Bagley wants to be a regular in the Mavericks\u2019 rotation, he has a long way to go. However, with the injury to Dereck Lively II, he has a real chance to play this year.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6g\">Seeing Doncic turn into Davis was brutal. And now, the return that Dallas got back for Doncic turned into, in part, the guy who was (wrongly) selected just one spot before him in the 2018 NBA Draft.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6j\">But still, at this point, Bagley looks like an interesting project for the Mavs. No matter how ridiculous the history behind the move is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dallas Mavericks trading Luka Doncic was one of the most brutal moments in NBA history, and it&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":593063,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3793],"tags":[7,686,149,4057,166,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-593062","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-mavericks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-mavericks","11":"tag-dallasmavericks","12":"tag-mavericks","13":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116042218066536286","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/593063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}