This time, there was no sales pitch needed by Donnie Nelson.
You may recall that Nelson has occasionally had to put his, um, credibility on the line when it came time for the Mavericks to draft players.
Sometimes, his selling job fell on deaf ears. He was all over Giannis Antetokounmpo, but was overruled by owner Mark Cuban.
Sometimes, he makes a convincing case and the Mavericks end up with Dirk Nowitzki.
When it came to Luka Doncic, the Mavericks' president and general manager had done years of homework. And he was ready to go to battle to convince Cuban and coach Rick Carlisle that the 6-8 Slovenian teenager was an absolute "must get" for the franchise.