The market has had almost everything, and part of it has moved on the Mavericks. Luka Doncic‘s team has been one of the protagonists having made one of the closing transfers: Kristaps Porzingis headed to the Wizards in exchange for Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans. A surprise, since the center was not one of the favorites to be transferred, but also a move that had already been talked about in the past. Porzingis has not finished exploding, his association with Doncic generated doubts and he has a toxic contract that is part of an overpaid player, who will pocket 31 and 33 million in the next two years, in addition to owning a player option of 36 million that for sure and if we take into account its current value in the market, it will exercise when the time comes.
Much has been made of this movement. Dinwiddie arrive (17,18 and 18.9 million, of which 10 are guaranteed) and Bertans (16, 16, 17 and 16, of which 5 are guaranteed), two players with good salaries that will alleviate the possibility that the renewal of Jalen Brunson will be complicated, who will go into free agency at the end of the season and is looking for a 4-year contract (he has already leaked it) for 80 million dollars, demands that the Mavericks, in theory, are going to try to meet. In other words, Cuban and General Manager Nico Harrison do two things in the same movement, which allows the Texan team to cover their backs for the immediate future. Bearing in mind that, let us remember, it is easier to move two contracts of 16 million than one that exceeds 30 and free up that cap space to re-sign Brunson if they see fit.
In any case, the movement also raises some doubts: internal power is lost, two players who are objectively far from their best moment are gained and everything around Doncic is definitively monopolized. I already wasbut now even more so: if everything works, Dinwiddie can help him raise the ball and the Slovenian doesn’t get so tired and Bertans will hit the triples. Otherwise, it could be two men who leave the team in the summer and therefore look for new alternatives, without dragging Porzingis whose current value in the market, unfortunately for him, has been demonstrated in this transfer. That is what the Latvian is worth now, two players come to less with undoubted talent, but also difficulties to fit in the Mavericks. And the assumption of mistakes by the Mavswho with the transfer promoted by Nico Harrison assume the mistake they made in giving such a large amount of money to Porzingis in his day.
In Dallas they are optimistic
In spite of everything, there is no pessimism in the Mavericks, that good with hope the situation. At the end of the day, they are in a great moment: the Texan team has four consecutive victories and 17 in the last 22 games, absolutely masterful figures that contrast with a hesitant start to the course and that leave the team led by Jason Kidd (rightly so far) with a record of 33-23, 1.5 games out of fourth place which would give them home court advantage in the first round and, above all, very far from that play-in that nobody wants to play but that has come to stay. And Doncic’s display a few hours after the transfer of Porzingis (51 points, 28 with 7 triples in the first quarter) has made it clear that the Slovenian is going to lead the entity, with or without his hitherto partner.
In addition, the messages are optimism. Jason Kidd He recalled that the Mavericks won the ring in 2011 with a single star, Dirk Nowitzki. A phrase that means stretching the truth to the maximum: the German was accompanied by a team with talented veterans and explosive and revolutionary young people. Shawn Marion, DeShawn Stevenson, Kidd himself, Tyson Chandler, JJ Barea and a long list of great players who won the ring against the Heat of the big three. A good reference by the current Mavs coach, who hides another more than verifiable fact: Mark Cuban has always cared for his stars with extraordinary delicacy. And if in 2004 he refused to transfer Nowitzki for Shaquille O’Neal and send the German to the Lakers, he will not let anyone touch his second great European pearl, Luka Doncic.
On the other hand, the most humorous part has been put by Doncic himself. The Slovenian, of course, has been in charge of wishing Porzingis the best, who has been by his side in recent years as not always a faithful squire, but as a companion. With him he takes several lived experiences and some bad vibes that are left behind with a transfer eternally postponed and finally carried out. One Doncic didn’t know about. “Nico called me to inform me of the transfer, but I was taking a nap“, assured the base jokingly. In short, one more anecdote in a situation that we will see if it harms or benefits the Mavericks. And things that happen, Clear. Also in the NBA.
