Mavs Step Back: Doncic Overworked; Will Dallas Learn From Nowitzki Era Mistakes?
As great of a career as Dallas Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki had, there will always be a lot of 'what-ifs' when it comes to how the Mavs' front office approached their team-building strategies after he won his first and only championship in 2011.
What if Dallas had brought Tyson Chandler back to help defend its title in 2012? What if owner Mark Cuban had allowed then-GM Donnie Nelson draft Giannis Antetokounmpo in the 2013 NBA Draft instead of saving pocket change to chase Dwight Howard in free agency? Overall, what if the Mavs had adopted a build-through-the-draft approach after 2011 instead of putting all of their eggs in the trade and free agency baskets?
All of that is in the past, and we obviously can't go back and change it, but what we can do, as lovers of the game, is hope – and perhaps pray – that we aren't heading down the same path of 'what-ifs' for Luka Doncic's tenure with the Mavs.
After losing Jalen Brunson in free agency over the summer, everyone knew the Mavs had to add a new third ball-handler into the mix, or the team would struggle. Despite the addition of Christian Wood being a good one, he didn't address that specific need. Instead of making real offers to serviceable backup point guards like Goran Dragic or Dennis Smith Jr., who told DallasBasketball.com over the summer that he wanted a reunion with the Mavs, Dallas instead chose to hope in-house guys like Frank Ntilikina and Josh Green would morph into that specific role. Those guys are fine in their niche roles, but being the Mavs' third ball-handler isn't what they are.
Doncic is already exhausted after just 11 games to start the season while leading the league in usage rate. He's simply having to do it all on most nights. Multiple players around the league, including Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant, have stated publicly how limited they know the Mavs' roster is, and how they put an extra target on Doncic's back because of that.
If we were a front office for an NBA team, it would be embarrassing to hear those that kind of quotes coming from other players on what seems like a nightly basis at this point.
Mavs GM Nico Harrison has done a good job overall so far in a year and a half at his new gig. He signed Reggie Bullock in his first free-agency period, and Bullock became a big reason why the Mavs were able to make it to the Western Conference Finals last season. Harrison traded often-injured Kristaps Porzingis' bloated contract for Spencer Dinwiddie, who has been stellar for Dallas since the trade happened. Then Harrison turned around four months later and traded four end-of-the-bench players for Wood.
So overall, we don't feel like this is a Harrison problem. He seems to have the correct vision for what kind of players he wants to pair with Doncic. The JaVale McGee signing, however, which has been a total bust through 11 games, feels like it was more of a move that coach Jason Kidd wanted more so than Harrison. The refusal to find an adequate fill-in replacement for Brunson feels like Cuban possibly had some say in it.
Whatever the dynamic is in the Mavs' front office, Harrison, Cuban and Kidd need to make sure they're all on the same page going forward with what's best for the team. Because Doncic putting a historic strain on his body this season while the Mavs flirt with a .500 record just won't cut it. They can’t take his greatness for granted now, because it might come back and bite them in 2026 if they do.
Listen to the latest episode of the Mavs Step Back Podcast where all of these issues are discussed further in addition to a recap of the Mavs' back-to-back losses to the Orlando Magic and Washington Wizards:
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