Livescore
If you had pulled your Dallas Mavericks fan friends aside the day before Christmas and told them what would happen in the next couple of months, they would have asked where you got the edibles. Since that day, when the Mavericks were 19-10 and fourth in the West:
• Luka Doncic strained his calf and was expected to miss six weeks or more.
• The Mavericks traded Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers.
• Anthony Davis, the All-NBA big man Dallas got back in the Doncic trade, suffered a groin strain in his first game with the team and has been out since.
• Starting center Dereck Lively II was sidelined with a stress fracture in his right ankle.
• Lively’s injury pushed Daniel Gafford into the starting five until he suffered a sprained knee.
• P.J. Washington would be in and out of the lineup with injuries.
• The Mavericks would go 13-20 starting on Christmas and with that slide down to 10th in the West.
• Kyrie Irving would tear his ACL, ending his season.
It’s a lot, and the Mavericks fan base deserves better. What’s next in Dallas? Let’s break it down.
Shut down Anthony Davis for season?
Without Irving, Dallas’ dreams of a deep postseason run out of the play-in are dead. This has led to speculation the Mavericks may pull the plug on this season, including an Anthony Davis return. Here is Shams Charania of ESPN speaking on the Pat McAfee Show.
“I think him, his representatives are gonna huddle up. I think they’re gonna have some very hard conversations. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that one game was the last time we’ve seen AD this season.”
Groin strains can linger and are easy to re-injure. It sucks to say this for Mavericks fans, but what is the point of bringing AD back this season? The Mavericks currently would draft 13th (before the lottery) and sit as the No. 10 seed (meaning they would have to win two road play-in games just for the chance to face Oklahoma City in the first round). Why not improve that lottery position and get your guys healthy?
Will Dallas hold on to final play-in spot?
While the Mavericks have lost 4-of-5, and it seems like there are a lot more losses in their short-term future, they might hold on to the No. 10 spot by default. Here’s a look at the race.
Phoenix is 3.5 games back of Dallas, but if there is one team in the league with worse vibes than the Mavericks right now it is the Suns. It’s possible the Suns turn things around and make a run to the 10 seed, but they have the toughest remaining schedule in the league, making it a long shot.
One team to watch: Portland. While the Trail Blazers are four games back of the Mavericks with 20 games to play, they have won 5-of-6 and are playing their best ball of the season behind Anfernee Simons, Sharron Sharpe, Deni Avdija, Toumani Camara and Scoot Henderson. Portland has a much tougher schedule than Dallas the rest of the way, but this is the team to watch. The Trail Blazers are not out of it yet.
Will Kyrie Irving enter free agency?
Before this injury, no player in the league had more leverage in negotiations this summer than Irving. While the dynamic has changed, that leverage is not completely gone.
Irving has a player option for $43.9 million next season, and the league-wide expectation had been he would opt out this summer and the Mavericks would give him a raise and a multi-year contract — with Doncic in Los Angeles, Dallas could not let Irving walk (can you imagine the fan reaction?). That hasn’t completely changed. If Irving were to opt out, hit free agency, and then sign elsewhere, it would be a real blow to Dallas. Irving’s issue is that not many teams will have cap space this summer, he’d likely have to find a sign-and-trade, but there unquestionably would be considerable interest in the guy who averaged 25 points a game this season and is an elite playmaker.
The smart money is on Dallas and Irving figuring something out, but the drama is not over.
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