The Mavs tried to trade Brunson + 18 pick + 31 pick for the pick to acquire Haliburton in 2020

[iLLmatic860]

Brunson benefited from Carisles system and playing with Luka which gave Brun the confidence he has today

With his mindset he always would’ve been serviceable but I doubt he’ll be the player he is today without that experience

I'll slightly correct you, it was Kidd who actually fully unlocked Brunson. He gave him the role and confidence to be THAT guy next to Luka. Then they both played off each other. That's why i was always advocating to resign Brunson but i remember a lot of people still wanted to trade him when his playstlye and value were slowly going up. He later then said he has to thank Kidd for all the guidance.

Yeah forgot to mention Kidd but sometimes all it takes is for one person to believe in you

[Swish1906]

I'm always a little skeptical with these reports that teams turned down a ton of stuff for a late lottery pick. Especially when multiple teams in a row supposedly did this is a draft that at least on the popular level wasn't super highly regarded at the time.

What if this leak is coming from a Mavs source that's trying to spin their mismanagement and loss of Brunson in a different direction to make the franchise look better?

Straight after draft night there were multiple reports that the Mavs tried hard to trade up when Haliburton fell.

So yeah that report is for sure true because it was first reported straight after the draft

[Drakeem]

I believe this. Brunson wasn't the Brunson we know until late in his last season with Dallas. He was so bad during the playoffs before that year that he had to be benched. Credit to him for never giving up and being an absolute champ and working, but lets not use hindsight to cloud what the reality was back in the day.

Hali and Luka would have been insane together. Two offensive hubs buzzing at the same time, and Hali could use his shooting to full display with a guy like Luka next to him.

[Pointgod]

What’s even more insane is that Haliburton lasted until what the 12th pick in that draft? How the hell did so many GM’s miss?

[MrGoat]

That would have been a great trade for the Mavs in retrospect...

[Harry Garris]

I'm always a little skeptical with these reports that teams turned down a ton of stuff for a late lottery pick. Especially when multiple teams in a row supposedly did this is a draft that at least on the popular level wasn't super highly regarded at the time.

What if this leak is coming from a Mavs source that's trying to spin their mismanagement and loss of Brunson in a different direction to make the franchise look better?

Straight after draft night there were multiple reports that the Mavs tried hard to trade up when Haliburton fell.

So yeah that report is for sure true because it was first reported straight after the draft

I just don't get it because we've seen teams successfully trade up in stronger drafts than this one was while not having to give up as much stuff as the Mavs allegedly offered. I'm not saying there's no way it's true, I'm saying I'm skeptical.