Proposed blockbuster sees Dallas Mavericks flip Luka Doncic for Victor Wembanyama

Luka Doncic's future with the Dallas Mavericks continues to be a discussion point heading into the offseason.

Assuming that Doncic requests a trade out of Dallas, Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes reckons owner Mark Cuban and the front office should set their sights on Victor Wembanyama.

"The Spurs would need to clear more money to onboard Doncic's salary, but that'd be easy enough," Hughes wrote. "From their perspective, it's not the wildest idea to trade a player who might someday become a generational superstar for one who already is."

He continued:

"Ultimately, Wembanyama might not be tradeable under any circumstances. It also seems a little early for Dallas to move on from Doncicfif he hasn't already communicated a desire to leave. Still, if you're concocting a swap involving one generational talent, the only way to make it plausible is to include another."

After missing out on the 2023 NBA playoffs, the Mavericks have come under increasing criticism for their decision to acquire Kyrie Irving at the Feb. 9 trade deadline. With the future of both Irving and Luka Doncic up in the air, the Western Conference team may end up rebuilding their roster.

As such, trading for a potential generational talent in Vincent Wembenyama would give the Mavericks the best chance of bouncing back from their current chaos. Of course, the San Antonio Spurs would also get to give Gregg Popovich one last chance to add to his championship collection before he calls time on his storied coaching career.

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Luka Doncic continues to dominate

During the 2022-23 regular season, Luka Doncic participated in 66 games for the Dallas Mavericks. The star forward was a dominant force, averaging 32.4 points, 8.6 rebounds and eight assists per game.

Furthermore, Doncic displayed a vast improvement in drawing contact while entering his shooting motion, averaging 10.5 free throws per game. Most notably, though, Luka Doncic improved his efficiency from the field, shooting a career-high 49.6% on 22 field goal attempts per game.

Those performances saw Doncic named as part of the 2023 All-NBA first team, along with Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jayson Tatum.

By being selected to the All-NBA first team, Luka Doncic has now been part of the NBA's top five players for the last four seasons, having been named to the squad in 2020, 2021, 2022 and now 2023. It's worth noting that Doncic has only been in the NBA for five years, meaning he only missed out on an All-NBA team during his rookie year.

However, even as a rookie, Doncic was making waves, which is why he was named the NBA's 2019 Rookie of the Year. As such, you can understand why the Mavericks would hate to let such an elite talent leave.

However, if Doncic does decide that his future lies elsewhere, Wembenyama would be an incredible consolation prize for a franchise that has a rich history with European talents.