Mavericks Pick, Then Trade Trae Young To Atlanta For Luka Doncic At NBA Draft

NEW YORK (CBSDFW.COM/AP) - The Dallas Mavericks selected Trae Young, point guard from Oklahoma, with the fifth pick of the 2018 NBA Draft, but they quickly traded him to Atlanta after the Hawks selected Luka Doncic, a guard from Slovenia, with the third pick of the draft.

The Mavericks will also send a protected 2019 first-round pick to the Hawks as part of the deal.

The Slovenian teenager is considered one of the best prospects to come out of Europe.

Doncic is expected to spend his rookie season as a teammate of Dirk Nowitzki, who plans to become the first player to spend all 21 seasons with the same franchise. Nowitzki, of Germany, is the highest-scoring European player in NBA history.

The last time the Mavericks were coming off at least two straight losing seasons, as they are now, they traded down for Nowitzki, who was drafted ninth by Milwaukee in 1998.

Young was a dynamic scorer in his only season at Oklahoma as one of the country's best point guards.

This marks the seventh time in the last 13 drafts that at least one player has gone in the top five and will be entering the NBA directly from an international team. Andrea Bargnani went No. 1 overall in 2006; the last top-five to come from an international roster was Dragan Bender, who went No. 4 to Phoenix in 2016.

The international touch on this draft is already pronounced, with No. 1 pick Deandre Ayton being born in the Bahamas.

(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

In:
• NBA