Mavs Coach Jason Kidd Ahead of Trade Deadline: ‘Can’t Take Luka Doncic for Granted’
DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks enter Wednesday's matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves with a 26-21 record, ranking seventh in the Western Conference standings despite a historic season from Luka Doncic. With the midseason trade deadline looming, could the team get active to add talent?
On Tuesday, Mavs coach Jason Kidd appeared on Dallas radio station 97.1 The Freak's "The Downbeat." He expressed the importance of not taking the production that Doncic has continued to provide for granted amid a season featuring averages of 34.7 points, 9.6 assists, and 8.6 rebounds in 40 games.
"I've said this before, and I'll say it, you know, for as long as I'm here, is you can't take this young man for granted," Kidd said of Doncic.
Kidd expressed an opinion that caught the attention of many, describing Doncic as already being a better player than Dirk Nowitzki during his NBA career.
"I've said this internally, he is better than Dirk," Kidd said of Doncic. "He does things that Dirk could never do."
There was an important line within Kidd's comments, mentioning the importance of getting the "right people around" Doncic to win a championship. Kidd also predicts Doncic will win multiple championships during his NBA career.
"And now it's the opportunity of getting the right people around him to, ultimately, win a championship," Kidd said.
It's far from a controversial statement to state that Doncic doesn't have the necessary pieces around him yet to win a championship. However, it hasn't helped that many of Doncic's top supporting cast talents have continued to be sidelined with injuries. Regardless, the team needs more. An offense led by Doncic and shooters can go far, but the team ranks 22nd in defensive rating on the season.
Dereck Lively II has already exceeded the wildest of first-year expectations many could have held when he was first drafted. When healthy, Kyrie Irving has proven to be a dynamic secondary option alongside some of the NBA's top players, including Doncic. The Mavs could use more wing talent to round out the group.
When discussing the Mavs' championship outlook, Doncic told Slovenian journalist Andrej Miljkovic of Ekipa24 that health should not be overlooked, considering the team's injury struggles. He understands the importance of consistently staying healthy, particularly the team's "Big 3" including him, Irving, and Lively.
"I'm not saying people aren't taking into account all of our injury problems this season, but maybe not enough of them,” Doncic told Ekipa24 in an answer translated from Slovenian to English. "It was a serious injury crisis; there was always someone missing, and there was always someone important missing. In my opinion, we are even closer to being in perfect shape and at least approximately healthy now. Especially our 'Big 3,' as we would say here — we have played very little together in matches, even less in training. We still have to get used to it, even though we are already in the second half of the regular season."
However, Doncic highlighted how the Mavs much play with more physicality. Given that the Mavs routinely have one of the most minor perimeter personnel groups on the court at any given team, it's common for Doncic to be the tallest non-center on the floor despite only being 6-foot-7. The team is physically disadvantaged when deploying smaller personnel than the opponent tends to deploy.
"As for what we lack and what we should do, it is clear that we should play much more physically," Doncic explained. "Practically everyone is much more physical against us than we are against them. We need to change that."
Many teams desire to add wing talent due to how important it is, but the team will need to get creative since they will be limited to offering only their 2027 selection regarding first-round draft capital.
