Top Landing Spots for Luka Dončić If Dallas Mavericks Trade Star Guard This Offseason

It's too early to consider Luka Dončić asking for a trade, which is the Dallas Mavericks' doomsday scenario. But after they lost their fifth game in six tries Wednesday night, we're going to consider it anyway.

After falling to the Philadelphia 76ers 116-108 on national TV, Dallas is now 37-40. The Mavs wouldn't even make the play-in tournament if the season ended today. And with five games to play, the team is a whopping 12 wins shy of exceeding its preseason over-under of 48.5.

This season has been a catastrophe, and it was headed that way even before the desperation trade to land Kyrie Irving. Unfortunately, that move hasn't stabilized things, and Dallas' chance to make the playoffs is down to 18 percent, according to FiveThirtyEight's projection model.

And that brings us back to doomsday.

Luka hasn't given any indication that he wants out. And he's under contract through 2026-27 with a player option for the final year. Even if he does demand a trade, nothing is forcing the Mavericks to appease him. Remember, Kobe Bryant once demanded a trade from the Los Angeles Lakers, but he wound up playing all 20 years of his legendary career for one franchise.

But this is the modern NBA. Discontent often leads to players asking out. And the Mavericks missing the playoffs might feel like another link in a chain of events that would test most stars' patience.

After making the Western Conference Finals in 2022, Dallas lost Jalen Brunson in free agency for nothing. After a disappointing pre-trade deadline portion of 2022-23 (thanks in part to Brunson's absence), it traded starting guard Spencer Dinwiddie, the team's best three-and-D player in Dorian Finney-Smith, a first-round pick and two second-round picks for Kyrie, who can follow Brunson out as a free agent this summer.

If all those dominos fell, Luka asking for a trade wouldn't be shocking. And if he did, suitors all over the NBA would line up in a heartbeat.

Those with the best chance of completing a deal would have to have a boatload of assets to offer the Mavs. Being in a high-profile market always seems to help too. At least one team can check both of those boxes, but a couple of others could at least make the bidding war more interesting.

If (and again, that's a big if) Dallas was actually forced to take some calls on their generational superstar this summer, these are the most realistic potential landing spots.

Oklahoma City Thunder

Ron Jenkins/Getty Images

Luka Dončić and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

A realistic trade for Luka (assuming that's even possible) would likely require at least one or two intriguing young players, salary filler and some combination of five or six first-round picks and first-round-pick swaps.

The Oklahoma City Thunder can check all those boxes, and they might even be able to do it without including Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (*pause for laughter from Mavs fans).

If Dončić demands out, OKC could offer a prime package of picks, Josh Giddey, Chet Holmgren and Luguentz Dort as the salary filler. Jalen Williams is another possible addition to the framework.

The remaining roster would be pretty bare-bones, but a backcourt of Luka and SGA would be nightmarish for the rest of the Western Conference.

And with those two in place, you wouldn't need to add much beyond defense and spot-up shooting. That can be easier said than done, but the trickiest part of team-building is landing the stars.

Something like this would put the Thunder ahead of most of the rest of the league on that front.

Utah Jazz

Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images

Lauri Markkanen and Luka Dončić

Like OKC, the Utah Jazz have a treasure trove of future draft assets. They acquired theirs this past summer with a pair of deals that sent Donovan Mitchell to the Cleveland Cavaliers and Rudy Gobert to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Putting together five or six of those future picks (or pick swaps), Collin Sexton and Kelly Olynyk as salary fillers and Walker Kessler and Ochai Agbaji as the intriguing young talent could at least get the Jazz in the conversation.

And if their package put them over the top, Utah would pair Dončić with perhaps the best No. 2 for his game.

He's been slightly more deferential since Dallas acquired Kyrie, but Luka has dominated the ball for the bulk of his career. Lauri Markkanen's star turn, meanwhile, hasn't come with an explosion in usage.

He's 12th in the league in points per game while ranking 39th in usage percentage and 142nd in time of possession per game. Dončić ranks second, second and first on those particular leaderboards.

Having a running mate who can get 25-plus points on way-above-average efficiency without taking the ball out of Luka's hands would make for a devastating attack.

New York Knicks

Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images

Jalen Brunson and Luka Dončić

This, of course, was the squad alluded to in the intro.

The New York Knicks have a pile of future draft picks. And while RJ Barrett's value has certainly gone down this season, Immanuel Quickley's has risen, and the Knicks could try to bring Luka to the game's biggest media market with a package like the ones it offered the Jazz for Donovan Mitchell.

New York could offer multiple draft picks, Barrett, Quickley and Quentin Grimes to the Mavericks.

And with the Knicks, Luka would be reunited with the second option that he went to the conference finals with in Brunson. Plus, he'd have a dynamic rim runner and protector in Mitchell Robinson, assuming Dallas wouldn't insist on him being in the deal too.

Given the amount of ball-handling in the lineup at that point, New York might need to find another team for Julius Randle, but that'd almost feel like a trivial pursuit if it managed to snag Dončić.

Whatever Team Lands the No. 1 Pick

Christian Liewig - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images

Victor Wembanyama

As far as pre-draft hype goes, Victor Wembanyama's is up there with LeBron James and the subject of this slide.

Draft experts were already all-in before he came to the United States for a pair of exhibition games, and those contests got everyone else's chips in.

In just two games against the G Leaguers, the 7'5" 19-year-old scored 73 points and dominated both ends of the floor.

And the hype hasn't slowed down over the course of his season in France, where he's averaging 21.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and 3.2 blocks.

If he develops into some kind of Kevin Durant-Rudy Gobert hybrid (lofty, to be sure, but it might be in play), Wembanyama could be a transformational player.

But nothing is guaranteed with draft prospects. And if Dončić really does hit the market, whatever team lands the No. 1 pick will almost certainly be tempted to include it in a package for Luka.

We already know what he is: a one-man offense who's a perennial All-NBA and MVP candidate.

Which, of course, is probably why Dallas will never trade him.