The numbers say Dallas Mavericks sensation Luka Doncic is the NBA's Rookie of the Year (and it's not even close). Numbers aren't the only thing hyping up Dallas' rookie this year.

LeBron James has spoken very highly of Doncic. Kevin Durant has as well. Steve Kerr, too. The list seemingly goes on and on.

So why did the Atlanta Hawks pass on adding Doncic during the 2018 NBA draft? Their GM -- Travis Schlenk -- answered that question recently on "The Woj Pod" hosted by ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

Before getting into the why, here's the full draft-night deal :

-- Dallas sent the fifth overall pick (Trae Young) and a protected first-round pick in 2019 to the Hawks for Doncic.

-- If the Mavericks are picking in the top five in 2019, they will keep the pick. Otherwise, it will be conveyed to the Hawks.

-- The same protection applies in 2020. If it goes beyond that the pick is only protected through the top three picks in 2021 and '22 and unprotected in 2023.

RELATED: Inside how the Mavs got their top target in Luka Doncic

On "The Woj Pod," Schlenk said the Hawks felt they'd be happy with "five or six" prospects from the draft.

"So we felt like going back a couple spots we were still gonna get a player we really liked. One of the things that we had said all along is that it's gonna take another first-round pick," he said.

"Not a lot of people know this: if we would've stayed at three we would've taken Luka. We had worked with his agent and he had did a physical for us that morning in New York. I was on the phone with Bill Duffy, his agent, telling him our press conference was gonna be Monday and Bill was ecstatic because Phoenix was gonna be there Friday and he had [DeAndre] Ayton so he was going to be able to do both press conferences.

"But then Dallas came in an hour or so before the draft. I had told them all along that it would take another lottery pick for us to slide back. That's when the conversations got started.

"For us, what made it make sense was our analytic staff was predicting Dallas to finish eighth this year. Right now I think they're 10th. So I give those guys a lot of credit for being pretty on top of it. To be able to add two lottery picks this year with a player [that] ended up being Trae -- who we're extremely excited about and he's had a great rookie season -- that made sense to us.

"I've always taken the strategy with the draft, to use a baseball strategy: the more swings you get the more chances you have to get a hit. To be able to take one lottery pick and essentially turn it into two, that made sense to us."

Sign up for our FREE Mavs newlsetter!

The biggest question about Dallas' season right now -- and a big part of the Hawks deciding to trade Young for Doncic according to the team's GM -- is if they're going to keep their 2019 pick.

After trading for Kristaps Porzingis and shipping off four of five starters (Dennis Smith Jr., Wesley Matthews, DeAndre Jordan and Harrison Barnes), team owner Mark Cuban vowed that the Mavs would not tank. Four days later, SportsDay's Tim Cowlishaw wrote that it might good for Dallas to take one final swing at hitting an NBA lottery home run to try and keep the pick.

Dallas is currently 3-4 since the Porzingis and Barnes deals and sits at 12th in the Western Conference with a 26-31 record. Only eight teams have a worse record than Dallas.

Tankathon currently has Dallas with a 20.3 percent chance of landing a top-4 pick and a 4.5 percent chance at landing the top selection in this year's draft.

Here's how the stats compare between Doncic and Young as of Feb. 19. NBA rankings among 2018-19 rookies are in parenthesis.

So ... should Dallas tank to potentially keep its pick? Vote below!

MORE DONCIC

-- Dallas (and the world) loves Luka. An inside look at why Luka loves Dallas, and how the Mavs plan to keep it that way

-- Inside Luka Doncic's 'stratospheric' marketing potential: Instant hit, selective partners and the mother lode that awaits

-- Interactive: The numbers say Luka Doncic is Rookie of the Year ... and it's not even close

-- Charles Barkley on Luka Doncic: 'That's a bad white boy ... we're getting really close to little black kids in the 'hood wearing his jersey'

-- What they're saying about Luka Doncic: Mavs' rookie will be a superstar, is 'already a problem' for rest of the NBA