- Comments made by Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison during his end-of-season media session didn’t inspire confidence that the team will re-sign free agent center Christian Wood, writes Callie Caplan of The Dallas Morning News. Harrison praised Wood’s impact, especially on the offensive end, but alluded to concerns about the big man’s defense. “Just because you’re an efficient scorer, there’s more to the game than just that, so I think it’s important to note that,” Harrison said.
The Mavericks are in advanced discussions with former Jazz executive Dennis Lindsey to join the organization as a special assistant to GM Nico Harrison, Marc Stein of the Stein Line reports (via Twitter). Harrison has been seeking an experienced sounding-board voice to join the front office in a consultant’s role, dating to last offseason.
Following their failure to make the playoffs, the Mavericks have a pivotal offseason that includes trying to re-sign Kyrie Irving and finding ways to improve the roster, despite limited trade assets and salary cap issues.
The Mavericks have been fined $750K by the NBA for “conduct detrimental to the league,” according to a press release (Twitter link).
The penalty was the result of a league investigation into Dallas’ decision to rest healthy players on Friday, April 7 during the team’s second-last game of the season, when a play-in spot was still within reach.
“The Mavericks violated the league’s player resting policy and demonstrated through actions and public statements the organization’s desire to lose the game in order to improve the chances of keeping its first-round pick in the 2023 NBA Draft,” the NBA said in today’s statement.
The league stressed that there was no indication the players who took the court for the Mavs in the game weren’t “playing to win,” but NBA executive VP and head of basketball operations Joe Dumars said the organization’s decision to rest key players “undermined the integrity of our sport.”
“The Mavericks’ actions failed our fans and our league,” Dumars added.
The Mavericks ruled out All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving, along with key role players Tim Hardaway Jr., Josh Green, Maxi Kleber, and Christian Wood for last Friday’s game vs. the Bulls. Due to a Slovenian event at the arena that night, Luka Doncic suited up for the first quarter but was pulled from the game early in the second quarter and didn’t return.
Dallas is hardly the only team that held out key players with dubious injury designations during the home stretch of the season. However, their choice to do so with just two games left in the season, despite being a half-game behind the Thunder in the play-in race, stood out — especially since comments made to the media by head coach Jason Kidd, among others, made the Mavs’ intentions clear.
The Mavericks owe their 2023 first-round pick to the Knicks but will keep the pick if it ends up in the top 10. Having lost the last two games of the season, Dallas finished with the NBA’s 10th-worst record and have approximately an 80% chance to hang onto the first-rounder on lottery night.
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was fined $600K by the league back in 2018 for talking about how tanking would benefit his team.
- Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison vows that the team won’t miss the postseason next season, Callie Caplan of the Dallas Morning News tweets. “They (the fans) should be frustrated. I’m frustrated. This year was unacceptable. … We’re going to evaluate everything, and we’re not going to be in this situation again.”
Kyrie Irving met with Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison and expressed his gratitude for how he was treated by the organization. Harrison, in turn, told the media on Tuesday that re-signing Irving is the organization’s top priority this offseason, according to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon.
“I think the things that he said along the way about how he feels here, how he feels appreciated, how he feels accepted and allowed to be himself — those are the things that he said kind of consistently,” Harrison said. “That’s what gives me the optimism that he wants to be here.”
The Mavs went 7-18 after the blockbuster trade with the Nets that sent Irving to Dallas and dropped out of the playoff race. They had an 5-11 record when both Irving and Luka Doncic played.
Yet Harrison insists they can thrive in the long-term.
“I think Luka and Kai work together,” he said. “I think when we have that talented of a player — that talented of two players — I think they work together. I really think it’s the players around them … kind of knowing their role with having those two guys out on the floor at the same time. I think that’s the thing that we need to work on.”
Irving declined to meet with the media after the season.
Whether Dallas will offer Irving a maximum contract, or something close to it, remains to be seen. He is eligible for a five-year, $272MM contract with the Mavericks or a four-year, $201.7MM deal with another team.
Doncic told the media he wants to the organization to re-sign Irving. The Mavs have some internal concerns about whether Doncic might request a trade next offseason if the team doesn’t show significant progress in 2023/24, sources within the organization have told MacMahon.
Harrison says it’s his responsibility to make sure Doncic doesn’t feel the need to request a trade.
“He’s under contract, so I don’t go to sleep at night worried about, ‘Is Luka going to be a Maverick?’ Because he is a Maverick, and he’s under contract. Obviously, if that changes, then we’ll have to reevaluate it,” Harrison said. “But I think our job really to keep Luka happy, if you will, is surrounding him by the right players to help him win.”
- Mavericks star Luka Doncic said during his exit interview with the media on Monday that he’d like to see the team re-sign Kyrie Irving this summer, as Eddie Sefko of Mavs.com relays. “I think it’s a great fit,” Doncic said. “Obviously people are going to say no, look at the results we’re having. But like I said, chemistry, relationships take time. And I wish he can still be here. He’s a great player. He just wants peace. And a great person.”
- The Mavericks consulted with the league office before submitting their player availability designations last Friday, sources tell Marc Stein (Substack link). The franchise is now under NBA investigation for its decision to rest healthy players in that game, and Stein suggests that the Mavs’ mistake was being too honest with the media on Friday about their motivations. Stein likens the league’s stance on tanking to its approach to tampering and free agency gun-jumping, writing that the least discreet teams are the ones that get penalized.
In an attempt to ward off trade speculation, Luka Doncic told reporters on Sunday that he’s happy in Dallas, but his demeanor at the podium suggested otherwise, writes Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News. Doncic was clearly disturbed by the Mavericks‘ late-season collapse that resulted in an early vacation, and he wasn’t on board with the choice to rest rotation players on Friday while there was still a chance to make the play-in tournament.
“I didn’t like that decision,” he said. “That’s it.”
Doncic also said, “Something’s got to change,” but refused to elaborate on specifics, adding, “I don’t want to talk to the media about it.”
Teams around the league are monitoring Doncic’s situation, but he doesn’t have much leverage to push for a trade even if he decides he wants out of Dallas, according to Sean Deveney of Heavy. The maximum extension that Doncic signed in 2021 will keep him under contract through the 2026/27 season.
“The only way he can force a trade is to sit out like Ben Simmons did and anyone who knows anything about Luka knows he is not going to do that. There’s just no way,” a Western Conference executive told Deveney. “Anyone saying they’re going to trade him isn’t looking at the facts, or it is wishful thinking. Why trade him? You have him signed through 2027. This is not an issue until 2025 or 2026. That’s just the reality, the way the CBA is set up. He has not been in town long enough to start asking out.”
There’s more from Dallas:
- Kyrie Irving didn’t address the media after Sunday’s game, but coach Jason Kidd indicated that Irving has enjoyed his time with the Mavericks and will be open to re-signing in free agency, Townsend adds. “I think he’s excited to be here,” Kidd said. “He’s excited to work with Luka. He believes that we have a chance to win. And so this is a big summer, not just for us as Mavs, but for Kai. Everything we’ve done is to show that this is a great city, a great organization. And now it’s time to continue to build that process of winning the championship.”
- Free agent big man Christian Wood seems unlikely to return, Marc Stein writes in his latest Subtack article. Stein notes that there was talk of an extension for Wood before the Irving trade, but now it doesn’t appear that Dallas will try to re-sign him. Stein adds that JaVale McGee and Tim Hardaway Jr. also have uncertain futures, but their contracts won’t make them easy to move.
- David Aldridge of The Athletic questions the wisdom of the NBA’s investigation of the Mavericks for resting healthy players, claiming it’s no different than what numerous other teams have done.
- Kyrie Irving is headed to unrestricted free agency. What are his plans? He kept that to himself after the Mavericks’ disappointing season ended on Sunday. He declined to speak to the media, the only Dallas player to do so, ESPN’s Tim MacMahon tweets.
- As for the Mavericks’ franchise player, he provided some comforting words to the team’s fans. Luka Doncic says he’s happy where he is, MacMahon adds in another tweet, an indication that he won’t be asking for a trade any time soon. “I’m happy here, so there’s nothing to worry (about),” Doncic said.
Despite the Mavericks‘ disappointing season, it sounds like both head coach Jason Kidd and general manager Nico Harrison will remain with the team for 2023/24.
Team owner Mark Cuban said earlier this week that the Mavs intend to bring back Kidd for a third season. As for Harrison, league sources tell Marc Stein (Substack link) that Cuban is pleased with the work that the longtime Nike executive has done since transitioning to a front office role. While the Mavs have faced criticism for a handful of roster moves – including losing Jalen Brunson and Kyrie Irving – Stein suggests that Harrison doesn’t need to worry about his job security at this point.
Here’s more on the Mavs from Stein:
- Stein’s “up-to-the-minute sense” is that the Mavericks won’t attempt to re-sign big man Christian Wood in free agency this offseason. Noting that Dallas intends to make some roster changes over the summer, Stein identifies JaVale McGee and Tim Hardaway Jr. as two veterans who could find themselves back on the trade block.
- There’s “considerable skepticism” around the NBA that the Mavs will take a hard-line stance and insist on a short-term deal in their negotiations with Kyrie Irving, according to Stein, who says early rumblings suggest the team may offer a three- or four-year contract to the star guard.
- If the Mavericks retain their 2023 first-rounder (which they owe to New York with top-10 protection), they’re expected to explore their trade options with that pick, sources tell Stein. A loss to San Antonio today would ensure Dallas has nearly an 80% chance to hang onto that pick — those odds could climb even higher if Utah wins and Dallas loses today.
- When the Mavericks traded for Kyrie Irving in February, he requested that reporters refrain from asking him about free agency until the season was over, notes Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News. Those questions are sure to come on Sunday when Dallas ends a disappointing campaign that fell short of the play-in tournament. Townsend adds that although the Mavs have a 9-17 record since trading for Irving, he hasn’t created any distractions in Dallas after a string of off-the-court incidents with Brooklyn. The biggest question facing the team in the offseason is how much of a commitment to make to Irving, who is eligible for a five-year, $272MM contract with the Mavericks or a four-year, $201.7MM deal with another team.
- When the Mavericks traded for Kyrie Irving in February, he requested that reporters refrain from asking him about free agency until the season was over, notes Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News. Those questions are sure to come on Sunday when Dallas ends a disappointing campaign that fell short of the play-in tournament. Townsend adds that although the Mavs have a 9-17 record since trading for Irving, he hasn’t created any distractions in Dallas after a string of off-the-court incidents with Brooklyn. The biggest question facing the team in the offseason is how much of a commitment to make to Irving, who is eligible for a five-year, $272MM contract with the Mavericks or a four-year, $201.7MM deal with another team.
- After finding themselves under NBA investigation for resting players Friday night with a play-in spot still within reach, the Mavericks will use a depleted roster again on Sunday, Townsend tweets. Irving, Luka Doncic, Reggie Bullock, Tim Hardaway Jr., Josh Green and Maxi Kleber will all sit out the game against the Spurs.