The Dallas Mavericks were all in on Luka Doncic ahead of the 2018 NBA Draft. Doncic was actually selected by the Atlanta Hawks, but was later traded to Dallas for Trae Young and another protected first-round pick. The Mavs' decision to acquire Doncic has obviously gone according to plan, as he's emerged as one of the best players in the NBA. During a recent appearance on the All the Smoke Productions podcast, Mark Cuban gave a behind-the-scenes look at the Mavericks' pre-draft interest in Doncic, via ClutchPoints.

“When a kid is 13, and he goes to play in Europe against grown men, you hear about it,” Cuban said of Doncic. “And then you kind of question it. It's like, okay it's Europe, you don't really know. And then, the scouts were saying there's… a 17-year-old kid that's playing against OKC and he's fearless. Just fearless.

“Then we started really paying attention. Our scouts liked him, our analytics guys loved him… They (the scouts) had (Deandre) Ayton number one. Our numbers guys were like, ‘this is the only superstar in the draft.'”

Mavericks' Luka Doncic trade in 2018 NBA Draft

However, the trade did not come to fruition until the final minutes before the Mavericks' selection in the 2018 NBA Draft.

“That trade, we tried, and tried, and tried… It was like 15 minutes to go before our pick,” Cuban continued. “And I called the owner in Atlanta. I'm like, ‘you're not picking Luka and you know the guy you want, let's just do this deal because he will be there for you. We will give you a pick… Instead of the general managers messing around, let's just get this done. And so we got it done.”

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Luka Doncic's chapter in Dallas is still being written. He is a superstar without question, but does not always receive enough credit from a national standpoint. Doncic is looking to lead the Mavericks to a championship and should also receive MVP consideration this season.

Trae Young has also found success in Atlanta. He's a star point guard with impressive three-point shooting prowess. Still, Doncic recently scored 73 points against the Hawks, a performance that likely had Atlanta thinking about that 2018 NBA Draft.