Mavericks quietly in position to win

By David Mullen

The Dallas Mavericks are heading out of the All-Star break halfway point of the NBA season right where they want to be. They are quietly getting better and stronger, and NBA teams, pundits and fans have yet to take notice. 

Forward Luka Doncic leads the NBA in scoring with a 34.2 points per game (ppg) average. But all of the MVP talk has been centered on Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic and Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donavan Mitchell. In Las Vegas, Doncic is 12-1 to win the MVP.

Because he was a Hall of Fame player, the NBA seems to discount Jason Kidd as a head coach. He is soft-spoken but has a calming influence on his team. He has contributed to making Kyrie Irving a team-first player. He is making young players like Josh Green and Dereck Lively II better. Under Kidd, the Mavs are starting to gel and are in a position to assemble a rotation built for a post season run. Mathematically, the All-Star break is actually the two-thirds mark of the season. Saying ”halfway point” is easier and more marketable, but numerically incorrect. In essence, Dallas has played two-thirds of their regular season games but are only halfway home to a serious playoff run. The NBA is built for the playoffs.

In 2023-24, the Mavs come out of their extended All-Star break vacation having played 55 of their 82 regular season games with a 32-23 record, are seventh in the Western Conference but only seven games from the surprising first place Minnesota Timberwolves. If that scenario seems vaguely familiar, it’s because it is.

In Kidd’s first season as head coach, the Mavs were 35-24 after the 2021-22 All-Star break, in fifth place in the Western Conference and 14 games behind the Phoenix Suns. The Mavs felt the need to bolster the team via trade. On February 10, 2022, the Mavericks shipped the talented but unreliable Kristaps Porzingis to the Washington Wizards for Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans.

Sports Illustrated, then a trusted source for NBA news and opinion, called the transaction “a curious trade for Dallas” and while Dinwiddie “fills a need as a secondary ball-handler to either put next to Luka or anchor some bench lineups,” SI wrote that “his poor three-point shooting is a concern.” 

The 2021-22 Mavericks squad caught fire, finishing the season with a 15-6 run, 50-32 overall and a fourth place Western Conference finish. Dinwiddie averaged nearly 16 ppg and opened up opportunities for guard Jalen Brunson to shine.

After knocking out the Utah Jazz in the first playoff round, the Mavs won a stunning seven-game series against the highly favored Phoenix Suns. Dallas lost to the eventual World Champion Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals. A season that began middling turned into a surprising success, partially inspired by a trade.

Like the 2021-22 team, the 2023-24 Mavericks made key in-season trades to bolster their playoff chances. On February 8, Dallas traded Richaun Holmes and a 2024 first round draft pick to Washington for center Daniel Gafford, and traded aging guard Seth Curry and disappointing free agent acquisition Grant Williams to the Charlotte Hornets for P.J. Washington. Like two years prior, the Mavericks got better in one day.

After a 2022-23 season where the Mavericks tanked the remaining games for the chance at an NBA lottery pick that they did not get, Dallas ended up with Lively II, a 20-year-old, 7-foot-1 center and 2023 first round draft pick (12th overall) from Duke. Although battling minor injuries in his first year, Lively II has showed flashes of providing a much needed inside presence. 

With Gafford taking some of the rebounding load off Lively II, he can get healthy and learn the NBA. In P.J. Washington, the Mavericks have a player that other teams must defend rather than just focusing on the star power of Doncic and Irving. Also, Washington’s presence will allow Kidd to best manage the playing time that high scoring guard Tim Hardaway Jr gets as a key reserve. While currently in seventh place, Dallas is only seven games out of first. If the season ended today, the Top 10 Western Conference playoff qualifiers would all have better than .500 records. The Western Conference teams are loaded with talent, including the underappreciated Mavericks.   

Why isn’t Dallas taken more seriously? Partly because of the early success of surprise teams like Minnesota, OKC and the New Orleans Pelicans are good stories. Partly because the Los Angeles Clippers have assembled their own All-Star team and the Denver Nuggets are the defending World Champions. Factor in the popularity of Golden State’s Steph Curry and that ESPN is a 24-hour enabler for Los Angeles Lakers guard LeBron James and the Mavs have been left on the cutting room floor.

The Mavericks don’t dunk. Doncic and Irving are not noted for ferocious slams that are camera ready, five-second video clips for ESPN and social media. They shoot from outside with great regularity and success. Outside shooting is not highlight reel stuff. The Mavericks are good and the recent trades have made them better. The rest of the league will soon be paying attention.