Dallas Drama 

By: Mike Rifkin

On February 6th, the Dallas Mavericks traded for Point Guard Kyrie Irving from the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, a 2027 second-round pick, a 2029 first-round pick (unprotected), and a 2029 second-round pick. On Friday night, the Mavericks needed to beat the Chicago Bulls and win on Sunday against the Spurs, and the Mavericks would have a chance to make the play-in. Before the game, the Bulls announced they were resting their top two scorers, Demar Derozan and Zach Levine. 

So it came as a shock that Friday afternoon, the Mavericks announced that Kyrie Irving was not going to play along with four other players. Irving was ruled out with a right foot injury, Tim Hardaway Jr had ankle soreness, Josh Green and Christian Wood were getting rests, and Maxi Kleber had a hamstring injury. How can you justify resting if your season is on the line? There is one game left in the season, which will have no bearing on the Mavericks based on Friday night’s loss. The Mavericks went 8-12 with Kyrie Irving. Head Coach Jason Kidd said pregame that it was an “organizational decision” to pull Luka Doncic after playing 13 minutes. 

Kidd said, “ We were fighting for our lives and understanding this is a situation we’re in, but the organization has made the decision to change.” After the game, Kidd said, “It’s not so much waiving the white flag. Its decisions sometimes are hard in this business. We’re trying to build a championship team. With this decision, this is maybe a step back. But hopefully, it leads to going forward.” These are two different schools of thought from Kidd, so I’m guessing someone in the organization talked with him postgame about what to say. Because you don’t go from we’re fighting for our lives to just saying it’s a business decision. Now if the Mavericks wind up with a pick outside the top ten in the NBA Draft in June, that pick will belong to the New York Knicks based on the Kristaps Porzings trade. 

Things are very dysfunctional in Dallas right now. Who knows if they will re-sign Kyrie Irving? What does the future hold for Jason Kidd? And what happens with Luka Doncic, now I’m not saying they would trade the superstar, but earlier this week, he talked about how much he missed Jalen Brunson, who signed with the Knicks last summer, and it was a struggle for him and Kyrie together. Last season the Mavericks lost in the Western Conference Finals, and now they’re missing the play-in. It’s an epic collapse, and I will be interested to see how Mark Cuban and company navigate this offseason.