Tim Benz: Luka Doncic trade should open eyes of Steelers management regarding George Pickens

It’s not often an NBA headline makes waves in Pittsburgh, but the trade of superstar Luka Doncic from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers for a package headlined by 31-year-old All-Star Anthony Davis was that far-reaching. The Mavs will also receive third-year wing Max Christie and the Lakers’ 2029 first-round draft pick.

It even had Pittsburghers talking about pro basketball quite a bit on Monday.

For good reason. There’s a lot to be learned by the Steelers from seeing that trade.

If they choose to learn anything.

Which, of course, they won’t. Because they are the Steelers, and they know best.

As their eight straight seasons without a playoff win clearly indicate.

As the Steelers would see — if they would pay attention to this deal — acting early on moving a star player may be better than sitting around and forcing yourself to pay him just because you haven’t bothered to look into other options.

The situation with Doncic in Dallas is very similar to that of George Pickens in Pittsburgh and, maybe to a lesser extent, to that of T.J. Watt as well.

The reason cited by Dallas general manager Nico Harrison for making the move was one of “culture,” as he explained it.

“As we turn the page, I think it’s important to know that (Mavs coach Jason Kidd) and I, we’ve had a vision and the culture that we want to create since we’ve been here,” Harrison said after the deal last weekend via ESPN.com’s Tim McMahon. “The players that we’re bringing in, we believe, exemplify that. We think defense wins championships, and we’re bringing in one of the best two-way players in the league.”

How good or bad Doncic is on defense is irrelevant. He was third in MVP voting and a five-time, first-team All-NBA player. Dallas can live with his defense. They did all the way to the NBA Finals last year.

What they decided they couldn’t live with were his diet and his lack of attention to his conditioning. That’s especially true if they were going to have to give him $345 million on a supermax contract this offseason.

That’s according to McMahon, who wrote, “Sources told ESPN that constant concerns about Doncic’s conditioning were a major factor in the Mavericks’ decision to approach the Lakers about a trade for Davis. Doncic has played in only 22 games this season because of injuries, primarily a left calf strain that has sidelined him since Christmas Day. There was extreme frustration throughout the organization about Doncic’s lackadaisical approach to diet and conditioning, which Dallas’ decision-makers believed negatively impacted his durability.”

The situation is very much analogous to Pickens here in Pittsburgh. His problem isn’t conditioning. His problems are his demeanor and his lack of maturity.

His problem is pouting or blowing up on the sideline. His problem is fighting with defensive backs during a play or not giving full effort on many snaps. His problem is wearing eye black with profane messages on it or showing up late for games.

Those things won’t disappear once he gets a $30 million contract. Pickens is likely to ask for an extension this year. If he does, that’s what he is going to want. Those issues of attitude and entitlement won’t disappear once he gets all that money. They’ll become worse.

If he doesn’t get that contract extension, he’ll either show up and be a pain in the backside about it, or he’ll hold out.

Or the Steelers can trade him. Like the Mavs, they won’t get a fair return for the present roster. But they’ll get something, and they’ll be rid of a salary cap problem — and potentially a locker room problem — in the future.

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Then we have Watt’s situation on the defensive side of the ball. Again, his problem isn’t conditioning. But it is injuries.

Watt missed seven games in 2022. He missed the playoff game in 2023, and he played compromised because of an ankle injury the last month of this past season.

Is Doncic’s weight going to be less of a concern as he gets older? Is Watt’s injury track record going to become less of an issue as he advances into his 30s?

On both fronts, of course not. But Watt is also a year away from his $112 million contract expiring. So he is due for an extension as well. Other teams might consider trading him while his value is still high or refusing to extend him until free agency to see if he makes it through 2025 free of injury.

Not the Steelers, though. Even though those two options have been discussed in the media, Art Rooney II has already kiboshed that conversation, stating that the franchise hopes to “have T.J. for the future beyond this year.”

That would be along with Cameron Heyward, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Alex Highsmith and Patrick Queen. All are on the roster for between $17.6 million and $30.4 million against the cap in 2025. All but Watt are on the books through 2026. All were a big part of a defense that collapsed over the final five games of this season.

But the idea of moving on from any of them is likely so repugnant to Rooney II, Omar Khan and Mike Tomlin that you’ll never see a Watt trade like the one Dallas just pulled off with Doncic.

Granted, Dallas didn’t do everything well. They could’ve gotten more than they did for Doncic if they made their willingness to trade him more public. They just didn’t want to deal with the circus that speculation would have created. It would’ve been weeks or months of bad press until a deal was done. They just prioritized expeditiously getting rid of a player who was going to be an expensive health concern more so than value in return.

The Steelers will do no such thing with Watt, even if a team approached them with a willingness to overpay. For better or worse, the Steelers simply won’t act upon that.

With Pickens, they might. In fact, they should.

Will they reap a better return than Dallas did? I dunno.

Then again, with the utter uncertainty in Pittsburgh over who will be throwing the ball to Pickens or … whoever … next year anyway, does it really matter?