Does the Mavericks season have salvation? In the franchise they seem to start to fear not. According to Shams Charania, a journalist for The Athletic, the Texans are already beginning to consider the possibility of sitting Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic if they feel that the play-in options are disappearing. The objective? keep your pick of 2023.
Dallas sent said pick to New York on the transfer of Kristaps Porzingis, adding a buffer should the round be a top 10 pick that didn’t look like it would carry weight until just a few weeks ago. However, as the Mavs have been falling in the rankings, this protection has been gaining relevance, since the chances of them ending up in the top 10 of the next draft have been growing and, for lack of other incentive, keeping it could be their main goal this year.
Kidd’s men, with a record of 37-42, are currently in 20th place in the league’s overall standings, which would give them a 79.8% chance of keeping their round compared to 20.2% for that ends up in the hands of the Knicks. However, the Jazz follow them very closely in the standings (36-42), and falling behind them, the chances of being top 10 would skyrocket to 96.9%, practically assuring them to stay in their round.
This is relevant because it would provide them with a pick more with which to negotiate and would allow them to be more aggressive in the transfer market when it comes to looking for new stars or a more consistent rotation. Charania says that they are expected to be one of the most active teams regardless of how this term ends, but it is clear that being able to go through three rounds would give them considerable leeway.
Still, for now it looks like the Mavericks will be fighting to wrest the final play-in spot from OKC while it’s mathematically possible, for which they need to win two more games than the Thunder in the remaining three games. All in all, it doesn’t seem like going into the play-in could suddenly reverse the team’s current dynamic and really save the year, but the truth is that it would be truly strange to have a superstar like Irving watching from the bench the end of which, Let’s remember, it could be his only season in Dallas.
(Cover photo: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
