Lee Escobedo
On Friday night against the tanking Chicago Bulls, the Dallas Mavericks chose to tank for a measly 10th pick in the upcoming NBA Draft over giving their 24-year-old superstar, Luka Dončić, a shot at the playoffs.
It was an egregious slight, to purposefully lose for a middling asset over giving their two superstars, Dončić and Kyrie Irving, a chance to compete in the Play-In and a shot at the seventh or eighth Western Conference seed. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver agreed, opening up an investigation into the Mavericks potentially tampering to improve their NBA Draft Lottery odds.
“The NBA commenced an investigation today into the facts and circumstances surrounding the
Dallas Mavericks’ roster decisions and game conduct with respect to last night’s Chicago Bulls-
Mavericks game, including the motivations behind those actions,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass
said in an official statement.
Mavs owner Mark Cuban has had a contentious relationship with Silver and the NBA since buying the Mavs, and has seemingly poked the bear far too often. Now the bear is poking back. Will it end up costing them the pick they tanked so hard for? Perhaps.
Irving, an unrestricted free agent, along with their third-best player Christian Wood (who they traded a first-round pick for last summer), can walk for nothing this summer. Sound familiar? It’s the same situation as last summer, when Jalen Brunson, the Mavs’ second-best player and emerging young star, left after feeling disrespected by the organization for the New York Knicks.
In the second half of the game against the Bulls, the Mavs pulled Markieff Morris, JaVale McGee, and even rookie Jaden Hardy — the three players who were giving them any chance of winning the game — for guys on two-way contracts (McKinley Wright IV, A. J. Lawson) and ex-New York Knicks Theo Pinson and Frank Ntilikina.
It was an embarrassing move by Cuban, general manager Nico Harrison, and coach Jason Kidd to improve their chances of losing the game and solidify their chances for the No. 10 selection the June draft. They need to stay at 10th to ensure the pick they owe the Knicks from the 2019 Kristaps Porzingis trade did not convey to the Knicks.
What happened to the rising Dallas Mavericks?
Not that playing all their healthy players has resulted in winning. This year’s team — which is 38-43 heading into Sunday’s season finale against the San Antonio Spurs — is reminiscent of the pre-Doncic era team that missed the playoffs for three straight seasons. They appeared to be on the rise after advancing to the Western Conference finals last season that capped three straight playoff appearances.
But now the Mavs will depend on lottery luck, the rolling of the proverbial dice, for them not to fall in the draft, which would, ironically, send the pick to the Knicks. But let’s be honest, what could the 10th draft pick do to improve this roster? Harrison has made some poor moves by failing to retain their valuable players (Brunson), making good trades for the team (Porzingis, Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith), and signing free agents (McGee, Pinson, Ntilikina). So what does Cuban think Harrison will do with the 10th pick?
The Dallas Mavericks roster is filled with players nobody but Cuban could love. It’s mostly made up of players who didn’t work in New York (Reggie Bullock, Ntilikina, Pinson, Tim Hardaway Jr., Justin Holiday) and one-dimensional players (Kelber, Bertans, Dwight Powell). Harrison traded a first-round pick for Christian Wood last summer, only for Kidd to not play him to his full potential or desired minutes. As an unrestricted FA, the Mavs will likely lose him and get nothing in return.
Harrison lost the Porzingis trade by having to attach a second-round pick to offload a player who revitalized his career once he left Dallas. And at the deadline, he made a move drenched in desperation by trading starting point guard Dinwiddie, glue guy and the team’s best defender, Finney-Smith, and a 2029 first-round pick for Irving.
The Mavs have an 8-12 record with Irving. And 5-11 when both Irving and Dončić share the court. What message does it send the Mavs players, specifically Irving and Dončić, sitting their best players when they had a shot at the Play-In tournament? Why would anyone want to re-sign or stay with such a poverty-thinking franchise?
The Kyrie Irving dilemma
Let’s say Irving does re-sign for his requested $50 million per year and four- or -five-year contract. The Mavs’ entire salary cap is dedicated to a player who helped your team fall from the No. 4 to the No. 11 seed after he arrived. They will have zero ability to improve their atrocious defense (23rd rated) depth or star power. And who’s to say Irving, after another year of dysfunction, doesn’t demand a trade from Dallas? It’s a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation for the Mavs. Irving has played well since arriving in Dallas. The Mavs’ failures are not his fault. But he has been an awkward fit with Dončić. The two stars’ chemistry has devolved into a “your turn, my turn” in isolation sets.
After the Mavs’ egregious tank job, ESPN’s Tim MacMahon reported the following, “Team sources have acknowledged to ESPN that fear exists that Doncic, who publicly and privately expressed extreme frustration this season, could consider requesting a trade as soon as the summer of 2024 if Dallas doesn’t make significant progress by then.”
The writing is on the wall. If Dončić cares as much about winning as he has his entire professional career, starting in Europe, he will leave the poverty franchise that has done nothing to deserve his services.
Lee Escobedo covers the NBA for Sportsnaut. You can follow him on Twitter at @_leeescobedo
