In one of the most surreal sports crossovers imaginable, NHL Hall of Famer Mike Modano made headlines after suggesting that the Dallas Mavericks trade the projected No. 1 overall pick, Cooper Flagg, to the Los Angeles Lakers — in exchange for none other than Luka Dončić. The proposal came in the wake of a wildly improbable NBA Draft Lottery that awarded the Mavericks the No. 1 pick, despite slim odds — they had a 1.8 percent chance of getting the top pick in the NBA draft.
Flagg For Luka: The Los Angeles Lakers Trade That Is So Crazy It Might Just Work
Modano, a Dallas legend in his own right, took to social media to float the trade idea, sparking immediate chaos among Mavericks fans. The hypothetical trade: “Flagg for Luka straight up.” Modano’s suggestion may have been born out of the surreal landscape created by the lottery outcome on the back of the insane Luka Doncic trade, Yet, pairing the young phenom Flagg with the Lakers’ future core while sending Dončić back home to Dallas could benefit both franchises.
Fans were quick to dismiss the idea as absurd, noting that trading away a generational player like Dončić for an unproven rookie — even one as hyped as Flagg — would be a catastrophic misstep for Dallas. Flagg, the 6’9” forward from Duke, has been likened to a young Larry Bird and is considered the most NBA-ready prospect since LeBron James.
Still, Modano’s comment ignited a frenzy of sports talk fodder, blending hockey royalty with basketball hypotheticals — and raising the temperature on what was already set to be a wild NBA offseason in Dallas.