RandBall: So, would you trade Anthony Edwards for Luka Dončić?

As if a Timberwolves vs. Lakers game that featured the return of Donte DiVincenzo, an ejection and likely resulting suspension for Anthony Edwards and ultimately a 111-102 Wolves loss needed any more subplots, we were offered a big one via a report from Sam Amick in The Athletic.

Though it was couched considerably, the upshot was that the Mavericks inquired about a trade for Edwards before the deal that sent Luka Dončić to the Lakers.

Wrote Amick: “Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison reached out to the Timberwolves and asked if there was any chance they’d be willing to trade Edwards. He was promptly told no. The Timberwolves, league sources say, were stunned that Dallas was contemplating parting ways with Dončić.”

So, what we have here is clearly not a “trade rumor.” It’s more of a curious step along the way to what ultimately became a trade for Anthony Davis.

(Were the Mavericks just doing Control-F on “Anthony” until they found one they could get?)

But it naturally causes my mind to wander, as it did on Friday’s Daily Delivery podcast, toward this question: Would I trade Ant for Luka?

First, I think it’s fair to say that such a trade, depending on how it was constructed, would have been judged much closer to even on both sides than the one for Davis.

Edwards is 23, an ascending player who still has a higher ceiling to reach, and is coming off a second-team All-NBA season in which his Wolves lost to Luka’s Mavericks in the Western Conference finals.

But Dončić is by far the more accomplished player, having been named to five All-NBA first teams.

While Edwards has proved to be more durable, having never played fewer than 72 games in a season, Luka has never played fewer than 61 (though he won’t reach that threshold this year).

From a pure basketball perspective, it’s a question of style and upside, mixed in with whatever durability and conditioning concerns reportedly led the Mavericks to move him in the first place.

Where this thought exercise hits a major bump in the road, though, is this: the Luka trade that already happened proved once again that trades are not just made on paper. They are not just an exchange of statistics.

They are about real feelings and vibes for the players involved, their teammates and their fan bases.

The vibes in Dallas are terrible right now because Luka was beloved there. The vibes in Los Angeles are excellent, showing both the excitement of adding Dončić and the relative emotional detachment the fan base had to Davis.

Trading Ant just a few months after trading Karl-Anthony Towns would have been a massive negative vibe shift in Minnesota, even if fans ultimately would have grown to appreciate Luka’s game.

Identities are built around superstars, and pulling the plug on five years of building up Edwards as the face of the franchise would have been too much, even if the basketball wisdom of a swap is debatable.