DALLAS — With the calendar flipping to a new year and the holiday season behind us, the NBA becomes a mini-season in and of itself beginning in January.
Some teams decide to go all in ahead of the All-Star game, and others look to punt on the season ahead of the trade deadline hoping to increase their chances at the next franchise-altering lottery pick.
For the Dallas Mavericks, they find themselves in a familiar position. How do you maximize your roster around a mold-breaking superstar? The question has followed Dallas from offseason-to-offseason for years, and will again reach a crescendo in the season’s second-half with several interconnected storylines.
Does the LuKai duo truly work together?
Once the shock of the Kyrie Irving trade wore off last trading deadline, the main question posed was how would two alphas coexist on a team together when both are so ball dominant? As the 2022-2023 season met its merciful end, the question turned into “How did a team with two All-NBA players miss the expanded playoffs entirely?”
There was serious apprehension by many to re-sign Irving as a free agent over the summer, mostly due to worry over Dallas “shooting its shot” with the wrong co-star, but also due to the PR and commitment issues that followed Irving from previous stops.
There are only so many chances a team has with a player the likes of Doncic before he himself decides to look for a greener pasture. Irving’s time in Dallas has been nothing short of positive, despite victories continuing to elude the team. Irving has been a supportive teammate while out, and has clearly been vibing with his peers.
While Irving has missed some time dealing with injuries, when on the court, it is clear that the backcourt superstars not only enjoy playing together, but the team as a whole enjoys the opportunities presented due to the amount of attention their presence warrants from opposing defenses.
The sting of losing Dereck Lively II and Grant Williams for an extended time due to injuries in Dallas’ second game of the new year can be mitigated by the availability and sheer firepower of Doncic and Irving, but Dallas’ “Full-Strength” roster is still an unknown until they can all take the court.
Can Mavs stay healthy?
Just as it looked like Dallas had seemingly survived their injury stretch, out went critical rotation members Lively and Williams with sprained ankles in Irving’s first game back after missing nearly a month.
Injuries are a part of the season for every team, and the Mavs have managed well so far, but the parade of bad injury luck has kept them from seeing what the team can accomplish with everyone in the mix at the same time. Dallas has seen Maxi Kleber in the frontcourt for only five games this season, and standout rookie Lively has been in and out of the lineup for several stretches already.
The Mavs have remained within striking distance of a top four conference spot even while missing Irving for several weeks thanks to the league-topping play of their 24 year-old All-NBA guard Doncic, who seemingly is the only irreplaceable part of their lineup.
Dallas has lost all three games that Doncic has been absent this season by an average of 16 points. Pretty valuable indeed.
Is this Luka’s MVP Year?
Doncic scored 488 points in December, somehow missing out on another Player of the Month award despite being the Western Conference’s top scorer. Luka eclipsed award winner Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in scoring, rebounding, and assists average while carrying a battered roster missing its second-best player and frontcourt anchor for the majority of the month.
While the league looked elsewhere for its monthly recognition, the league’s fanbase has provided their own with Doncic leading the way among Western Conference guards in the NBA All-Star voting.
Luka will likely start the All-Star game this year, his fifth selection in his six year-career. He should have been an All-Star during his rookie year too, if we are being honest. While Doncic’s 2023-2024 season is the best of his career to date, the middle-of-the-pack Mavs are unfortunately dimming his luster for Most Valuable Player recognition.
If the Mavericks come together and start to win more games and look more like a contender in the West, expect Doncic to shoot up the rankings for an award he almost certainly should be a favorite for.
What’s in store for this trade SZN?
The Mavericks front office can help increase their playoff chances, as well as Luka’s MVP case, by strengthening their rotation prior to the Feb. 8 trade deadline. Dallas would be well-served to find some frontcourt depth, especially with the absence of Kleber for the majority of the season, and the eventuality of a rookie wall for Lively due to the wear-and-tear of his first season.
Would they unload their young assets to the Utah Jazz for Finnish star Lauri Markkanen? Is coveted forward Pascal Siakam finally on the move and do the Mavericks match up with the Toronto Raptors to land him? Will LeBron demand a trade from the below .500 Los Angeles Lakers at 39 and would a reunion with Irving be his ask? Unlikely.
With scoring taken care of by Doncic and Irving, the Mavericks may be wise to offload a scorer like Jaden Hardy and sell high on Tim Hardaway Jr. for some defensive help on the wing.
There are moves out there and, again, the clock is ticking to find the right formula to make Dallas a winner while they have Doncic. As we’ve seen, for as good as Luka has been, he can’t do it all by himself and it remains to be seen if he can do it while paired with Irving.
Who will be the division winner?
While the Houston Rockets looked to be the main competition for Dallas in the Southwest Division earlier in the season, it’s the New Orleans Pelicans who have ridden a four-game win streak to a one-game lead in the division over Dallas to start the year.
Houston has the best intra-division record at 7-2, remains within striking distance, and has a respectable defense, so it looks to be a three-way dogfight in the season’s second-half as teams scramble to stay out of the play-in slots.
Beating up on the division could be the saving grace for the Mavs if they are to make the playoffs. Memphis seems to have too much ground to cover from Ja Morant’s absence and San Antonio has only one division win to date. It will be a tight squeeze, as Dallas is only three games in the loss column away from 10th place in the West.
What are your predictions for the Mavs in 2024? Share ‘em with Irvin on Twitter @Twittirv.
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