NO MORE FUTURE FOR DALLAS : Dallas Has Completely Fallen Apart After Going …….
Dallas has utterly come apart since going all in on Irving at the deadline. Just how awful has it gotten? It may be time for the Mavericks to cut their losses and try to salvage the future.
Let’s take a look back at some contentious comments made by Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban during the 2017-18 season:
“I probably shouldn’t say anything, but I just had dinner with some of our guys the other night. So here we are. We weren’t vying for the playoffs. I said, ‘Look, losing is our best option.’ Adam [Silver] would hate to hear that. But at least I sat down and explained things to them. And I told how our plans were proceeding.
Fast-forward five years, and Luka’s Mavs have made it to the playoffs in three consecutive years, including the Western Conference finals in 2022. But their playoff dreams are fading fast this season after they pushed all in at the trade deadline for Kyrie Irving. The move was supposed to propel them ahead in the standings, but instead they’re stuck in roughly the same spot. While the offense has remained elite, their defense has gotten even worse. The Mavericks are now just 7-13 since the Irving trade, including their current four-game skid, which has included back-to-back losses to the lowly Hornets.
With only seven games left and high lottery odds still up for grabs, the Mavericks have an unexpected decision to make. Is it time for Cuban to rev up the ol’ tank again?
At 36-39, the Mavericks have the league’s 10th-worst record. They’re currently one game back from a play-in tournament spot and 2.5 games back from a guaranteed postseason seed. Sure, the playoffs aren’t out of reach, but they’re also only 3.5 games away from having the sixth-worst record, which would give them a 37.2 percent chance at a top-four pick and a 9 percent chance of snatching the first pick in a draft featuring another tantalizing international prospect, the 7-foot-4 Victor Wembanyama.
