Last season, the Dallas Mavericks went all in, giving Luka Doncic the best teammate he’s ever had. They traded for Kyrie Irving on February 6th, giving up the team’s best defender Dorian Finney-Smith, as well as the current second best player in Spencer Dinwiddie. But at the end of the day, the Mavs thought it was worth it for a talent of Kyrie’s caliber. They sat at 5th place in the Western Conference at the time of the deal, and hoped taking some pressure off of Luka offensively could make them legitimate contenders in the West. However, their plan would backfire in the worst way possible. Dallas went just 10-18 after trading for Kyrie and fell all the way from 5th to 11th place in the western conference, and missed the play-in tournament altogether. The offensive piece wasn’t the problem, as they were the 9th best offense in the NBA by offensive rating after making the deal. However, trading away the best defender on a team that was already struggling seemed to have a bigger impact than they expected. Dallas had the 6th worst defense after the deal, and their offensive firepower couldn’t overcome the defensive shortcomings. However, you could argue the Mavs were the winners of the offseason, and they did work to address the defense. They signed Grant Williams away from the Celtics to a 4-year, $54M contract to be a potential upgrade of the old DFS wing defender spot. They also signed Derrick Jones Jr, who had the second best defensive rating on the Bulls among players who got at least 10 minutes per game. They drafted Derrick Lively as their potential rim protector of the future and drafted a potential great wing defender in Olivier Maxence-Prosper. So with one of the best offensive duos in the entire league with Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, as well as a much improved defense, and two key young guys who could take a step, the Mavs are going to be the contenders they hoped to be last season. The Dallas Mavericks Are About To SHOCK The NBA.
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#dallasmavericks #lukadoncic #kyrieirving
