Report: Nuggets tried to trade up to draft Luka Doncic in 2018 NBA Draft

Back in the 2018 NBA Draft, the Dallas Mavericks traded up in order to acquire Luka Doncic, who was selected by the Atlanta Hawks with the No. 3 overall pick. The Hawks received the draft rights to Trae Young in exchange for the Slovenian.

However, the Denver Nuggets were allegedly interested in trading up for Doncic as well.

“You tell this story in the book, so let’s give away some of the good stuff,” Brian Windhorst said of the Nuggets’ supposed interest in Doncic. “What happened in the 2018 draft with the Nuggets that would have impacted Jokic?”

Mike Singer then went on to provide details of the trade that never came to be.

“So, the Nuggets knew that Vlade Divac was not particularly high on Luka Doncic,” Singer said. “And they had designs on pairing Nikola Jokic with Luka Doncic. And on draft night in 2018 they tried. There was a call placed, there was a proposal and the Nuggets attempted to get the No. 2 pick for Gary Harris and two first-round picks is what I was told. You can roll your eyes at that price tag, but look in retrospect. The Kings ended up taking Marvin Bagley with the No. 2 pick.”

Doncic and Jokic still seemingly have plenty of great basketball left in them, yet they are already considered to be two of the better foreign players ever to step foot on an NBA court.

As for Jokic, he might be the most talented player in the league today. He has three league MVPs under his belt and could end up being in the running for his fourth when this season’s all done. In 10 games played so far in the 2024-25 regular season, he is averaging a triple-double of 29.7 points, 13.7 rebounds and 11.7 assists per contest.

Doncic might not be the all-around talent that Jokic is, but he’s probably the superior scorer of the two players. He averaged a league-high 33.9 points per contest during the 2023-24 campaign and is scoring 28.7 points per game for his NBA career.

Jokic and Doncic have also led their respective teams to great success. Doncic and the Mavericks came up just short of winning the team its second title in franchise history a few months ago, as Dallas lost to the Boston Celtics in the 2024 NBA Finals.

Unlike Doncic, Jokic is already an NBA champion. The Nuggets won the 2023 NBA title after they eliminated the Miami Heat in five games in the championship series.

Considering that the two players have made deep playoff runs on separate teams, it’s difficult to imagine that the Nuggets wouldn’t consistently be competing for titles for the foreseeable future if Doncic and Jokic were on the same team together.

It’s understandable if Nuggets fans are shaking their fists in the air in light of Singer’s report that Denver pursued Doncic before he was drafted but ultimately couldn’t trade up to one of those top picks.