1 Player from each decade the Dallas Mavericks gave up on way too soon

1. 2020s: Jalen Brunson

Arguably the best draft night in Dallas Mavericks history was the 2018 NBA Draft as they traded up to select Luka Doncic with the No. 3 overall pick. Doncic has already become the second-best Maverick in history behind Dirk Nowitzki, but they also made another excellent move in the 2018 NBA Draft.

Dallas selected Jalen Brunson with the No. 33 overall pick, and he ended up morphing into an elite role player with the Mavs. Brunson was fourth in Sixth Man of the Year voting in just his third season, and he blew up even more in his fourth season.

Brunson averaged 16.3 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 4.8 assists while shooting 50.2 percent from the floor and 37.3 percent from downtown that year, and he took his game to the next level in the playoffs. He averaged 21.6 points per game and helped lead the Mavs to the Western Conference Finals alongside Doncic, but that summer later got worse for the Mavs.

Dallas lost Brunson for nothing as he signed a big contract with the New York Knicks. While there are conflicting opinions and reports about Brunson leaving and if he would have even considered coming back, it's obvious that the Mavs wish they pursued him a bit harder that summer.

It was impossible to predict that Brunson was going to transform into the star that he is now, but the Mavs mismanaged him from the start. Rather than being a restricted free agent after his fourth year, Brunson's contract allowed him to be an unrestricted free agent.

That ended up being a huge mistake, and the Mavs lost out on retaining one of the top point guards in the NBA.