The Atlanta Hawks and Dallas Mavericks made sure that rookie point guards Trae Young and Luka Doncic would be linked together forever upon swapping the tandem of up-and-comers at the 2018 NBA Draft. After originally selected Doncic at No. 3 overall, the Hawks promptly shipped the Slovenian point guard to Dallas in exchange for the aforementioned Young, who was then selected by the Mavericks at No. 5 overall.

It is also worth noting that a protected future first round pick in 2019 came back to Atlanta alongside Young.

“The more swings you get the more chances you have to get a hit,” said Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk in regards to the now infamous trade, via Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. “To be able to take one lottery pick and essentially turn it into two, that made sense for us.”

On the other hand, Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle wasted absolutely no time in commenting on the same situation en route to stating that the Western Conference franchise knew that Doncic would no longer be on the board if they stayed put at No. 5.

“At one point, we thought there might be a slight chance Doncic could fall to us, but a couple of days ago it was pretty clear that there was no way that was going to happen,” said Carlisle, via USA TODAY. “He’s just too good. We get a guy we think is franchise foundation piece.”

Both Doncic and Young have had equally impressive starts to their respective NBA career while it appears as though either would have been solid selection for any NBA franchise.