Faced with a fan backlash following last week’s Luka Doncic trade and dealing with a series of injuries that have decimated their frontcourt, the Mavericks could have gone into a tailspin heading into the All-Star break.
Instead, Dallas has won four of its past five games, including a shorthanded home victory over Miami on Thursday that saw the club run out a starting five of Spencer Dinwiddie, Dante Exum, Max Christie, Olivier-Maxence Prosper, and Kessler Edwards. All five players scored in double figures, as Exum led the way with 27 points on 11-of-13 shooting.
“No one is pouting. Everyone is playing,” head coach Jason Kidd said after Thursday’s win, per Christian Clark of The Athletic. “Big win before the break. Now we can rest, regroup and get ready for the second half.”
Kyrie Irving had to sit out Thursday’s game – the second of a back-to-back set – due to a right shoulder injury, but he has been playing through a back issue and is averaging a team-high 36.6 minutes per game on the season. His resiliency and leadership has trickled down to the rest of the roster, Clark writes.
“He sets a standard,” Edwards said. “If he sees any of us slacking, he holds us to that. He also has a great personality. It’s light in the locker room around him, so it’s great.”
Here’s more on the Mavs:
- The Mavericks and Kidd won’t be fined for the head coach’s decision to skip Monday’s post-game press conference, according to NBA insider Marc Stein, who notes (via Twitter) that the league typically responds to first-time violations of that rule with a warning rather than handing out a fine.
- The Mavericks haven’t issued a formal update on Anthony Davis‘ projected recovery timetable from an adductor strain since he was injured in his first game with his new team on Saturday. As Stein writes in a story for his Substack, the lack of a publicly shared timeline is thought to be by design, with the hope being that Davis can take a non-surgical treatment path to recovery. As he reported earlier this week, Stein says there’s optimism that surgery can be avoided, but cautions that it hasn’t been entirely ruled out at this point.
- Within that same Substack story, Stein reports that the Mavericks would have had interest in entering the bidding for Ben Simmons on the buyout market, but their hard-cap restrictions prevented them from emerging as a serious suitor. The prorated veteran’s minimum deal that Simmons got from the Clippers carries a cap hit of approximately $756K, whereas Dallas is only operating about $171K below its first-apron hard cap.
i feel for mavs fans
worst trade in history of sports
wish there was a silver lining for ya’ll dallas fans but there rly isnt 1
Terrible trade indeed but if you want a silver lining Max Christie is a hullva player flying too far under the radar here
We always hear teams fishing for a POA defender at the deadline but hardly ever see any move (for good reason/they are super rare/valuable ).
Max is a great POA defender who fits like a glove with KI in the backcourt
Mavs fans will (once again) be pissed in a couple years at Robs team options he hands out like Candy when it comes to Max. I think Maxs next contract will exceed 4/80 might even get into the 9 digit category, hes been brilliant for them so far as well
**Player options! oof
No silver lining. You don’t trade a generational talent for a return like that.
Worst trade in the history of sports? Time will tell. If AD gets another ring and Luka gets another onion ring maybe pelinka will be calling back…
as someone that grew up a mavs fan , this is what’s called ‘first world suffering’
people in gaza, ukraine, etc .. they got it bad
no tears, dfw !
There’s a massive silver lining for me. I no longer have to watch Luka moan and complain to the refs every time he touches the ball. He plays basketball all year and is never healthy for the NBA season. He takes stupid half court shots and shoots 30% from 3 point range. I’m glad Dallas got rid of him and got a Hakeem Olajuwon type player. I know Olajuwon didn’t shoot 3’s but it’s a pretty good comparison for his inside game. The closer you are to the hoop the better chance of making your shot. I’m tired of watching a game of 3 point shots and timeouts. You should only be allowed one timeout in the last 2 minutes.
Legit thought this was a rage bait comment until I got your last sentence and now I’m just shaking my head.
Some balls to throw Luka ‘prima ballerina’ Doncic away like that :D No disrespect to Davis but Dallas could have and should have had so much more in return is the only issue.
You speak the truth Good Sir.The most punchable face in the entire league perhaps.
Remember the Pau Gasol trade, his brother Marc was a throw-in. Not that Christie is going to be as good as Marc Gasol, but he can change, giving it some time, our perspective of that trade a little bit
In terms of the substance of the assets back and forth, it’s nowhere near the worst trade in NBA history, and only the difference in age between the players even tilts the deal toward the LAL. If both AD and Luka were 26, the deal would have favored DAL.
What was historically bad, was DAL’s process in implementing the trade. It looked very bad at first, and then looked worse and worse as they explained themselves. Funny part is that Nico did understand that if his secret negotiations leaked out, there might be some outrage and it might even halt his process. But why that would be the case was apparently lost on him. DAL, as an organization, from the time Luka was drafted, worked hard to elevate him to the status of a public asset. The public ain’t going to be happy if he’s dealt away in a private transaction.
Mavs fans are just going to have to deal with the bad mojo of having evil owners…
The Timberwolves dealt with Glen Taylor, the Clippers with Donald Sterling… The Mavs now have one on that level…