Luka Doncic’s Patience Wears Thin; Can Trade Really Fix Mavs’ Problems?

The Dallas Mavericks have dropped three consecutive games since Luka Doncic returned from his ankle injury, and his understandable frustration is starting to boil over.

After losing back-to-back games to the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics in deflating fashion, the Dallas Mavericks were expected to show some pride by bouncing back against the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night.

For the first quarter and part of the second quarter, the Mavs did just that by building a 46-30 lead with 8:41 left in the first half. From that point on, though, it was the same old story, as Dallas’ 3s stopped falling and the defense collapsed in what ended up being a 132-109 loss to Phoenix.

Frustration is starting to boil over for Luka Doncic, and that’s completely understandable when you consider that he’s averaging 33.3 points, 13.0 rebounds, 10.7 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.3 blocks in the Mavs’ three-game skid. Doncic allegedly had a heckling Suns fan ejected from Wednesday’s game after being frustrated with what was said to him throughout the game, but ESPN’s Tim MacMahon later clarified that the fan reportedly left on his own.

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It’s true that Doncic could do a better job of keeping his composure, especially when not getting calls from the officials. It’s true that he could cut back on some of his heat-check 3s that allows an opponent to start a run when they aren’t falling. However, anyone trying to say that Doncic is the reason for the Mavs playing uninspired, underwhelming basketball is misplacing their blame.

“I think we just played very physically the first 17 or 18 minutes. Then our physicality went down, and that’s when we struggled. We got to be physical all game,” Doncic said.

“I don’t know,” Doncic continued when asked about how his team can fix its defense that consistently collapses. “We just got to be more physical – that’s it. I think when we play physical 48 minutes it’s hard to beat us. We got to play physically without fouling.”

Jason Kidd is the head coach, and he should be shouldering most of the responsibility for how poorly his team is playing right now. The “I’m just the coach” and “I don’t know, you’ll have to ask the players” stuff simply isn’t cutting it anymore. This Dallas roster isn’t perfect by any means, but its lack of enthusiasm and fire in several embarrassing losses is a direct reflection of its leader on the sideline.

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On nights where Doncic isn’t getting calls after being hacked continuously, yet the whistle is flowing freely on the other end of the court, why won’t Kidd step in and take a technical foul for defending his star player? Say what you will about former head coach Rick Carlisle and how his Mavs tenure ended, but the man knew when it was time to defend his guys and get them fired up. Kidd needs to show some fire and motivate his team that continuously falls flat when 3s aren’t falling.

“Don't have an answer," Kidd said when asked about managing Doncic's interactions with officials. "I think we might have jinxed it today talking about he hadn't had a ‘T’ [technical foul], it had been a while before Boston. You could see with Boston; he was running hot. Tonight, he was running hot.

"We'll talk to him about it. He's a competitor, he likes to have discussions with the referees, but he has to be better. As a group, we have to be better. We can't come out of halftime and give up a 40-something quarter against a very good team – that just puts too much pressure on your defense, and it puts way too much pressure on your offense when you're not shooting the ball straight. That's the way it's been for us this week.”

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On the other hand — playing devil’s advocate, if you will — it’s probably not fair to expect Kidd to get blood out of a turnip the same way Carlisle was able to do with shorthanded rosters on several occasions. If given the right amount of defensive talent around Doncic and Kyrie Irving, we likely wouldn’t be having these conversations about Kidd, but that just hasn’t been the case so far.

The Mavs have had several key injuries this season that have derailed and delayed attempts to build chemistry and continuity, but to have three consecutive losses where the team seemingly just threw in the towel is inexcusable. There is a certain level of energy and focus that should be present with a professional team whether they win or not.

The Mavs’ roster situation has been a journey for years now, and the previous front office regime jumped the gun in Doncic’s rookie year, trying to accelerate the team’s timeline by trading for Kristaps Porzingis. They’ve been limited and have been playing catch-up from that move ever since. Draft capital is limited and desirable trade assets are limited, so it’s not going to be easy for general manager Nico Harrison to make a needle-moving deal before this year’s trade deadline.

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One interesting thing we noticed when looking back through Kidd’s 2.5 seasons as head coach of the Mavs is that the second half of the 2021-22 season is the only time Dallas has played exceptional basketball. All other times, they have pretty much been a .500 team. So what is the correlation there?

People might say, “well, Jalen Brunson was on the team, duh!,” but having Kyrie Irving on the team now pretty much washes that excuse out, at least for the next few years. However, it’s interesting that during the Mavs’ best stretch of basketball over the last three years, Tim Hardaway Jr. just so happened to be out for the rest of the season with a foot injury.

As good as Hardaway can be some nights on the offensive end of the floor, he can still be one of the streakiest shooters in the league. And although he draws a lot of charges, overall he has a negative impact on the defensive end of the floor. Could trading Hardaway help the Mavs by forcing them to find other ways to win aside from him having hot shooting nights? Perhaps. But again, there isn't just one singular problem with the Mavs. There are several that have contributed to this latest disappointing stretch.

Overall, there is no easy fix for all the Mavs' problems. Blame can be spread across the board for the Mavs still barely being an above-average team with Doncic getting ready to enter his prime years, but one thing remains true no matter who or what you want to blame: Changes are needed, because with each deflating loss, the bad vibes from last season are starting to creep in again. The Mavs absolutely can't afford missing the postseason for a second year in a row with Doncic and Irving on the roster.