Post Mortem #14 - Dallas Mavericks

Post #1 » by **Clav** » Sun Apr 20, 2025 3:46 am

19 Apr, 2025

Our 14th team eliminated, the Dallas Mavericks after a loss on the road to Memphis in the final West Play-in game.

Previous Threads

Spoiler:

Time of death: April 18, 2025
Record at elimination: 39-43 [1-1 in play-in]
Head coach: Jason Kidd

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/dallas-mavericks/yearly

Contract summary:
Davis – 3yr Max through 27-28, ~62M PO year 3
Irving – extension eligible or ~43M PO
Thompson – 2 years remain at ~17M
PJ Washington – extension eligible or 14M expiring
Gafford – extension eligible or 14M expiring
Caleb Martin – 3/30M remain final year 9M PO
Naji Marshall – 2 /18M remain
Max Christie – 3/32M remain final year 9M PO
Dwight Powell – extension eligible or 4M PO
Dante Exum – UFA
Spencer Dinwiddie – UFA
Jaden Hardy – 3/18M extension begins next season, final year 6M TO

Rookie Scale/minimums (varies on 2-4 years remaining):
Dereck Lively – 5M, extension eligible after NEXT season
Olivier-Maxence Prosper – 3M, extension eligible after NEXT season

TW
Kessler Edwards
Kai Jones
Brandon Williams (Not the Charlotte player of the same name)

Dead-cap – 2.3M off the books this season, JaVale McGee (stretch&waived) for 2.2M dead money until 27-28.

25-26 Capspace – 1st apron, hard-capped. Will have extensions to manage.

PICKS for 2025 draft:
DAL 1st

A SMALL SEASON REVIEW:

https://www.espn.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/dal/dallas-mavericks

Tough one for me to write. Let’s start mid-season.

It was Christmas Day, 2024. Seems like a year away at this point… Minnesota and Dallas were playing a competitive game and I gave thanks for a WCF Rematch from the ’24 playoffs. Not long before halftime Luka Doncic came up a bit gimpy with a calf injury and went to the locker room. I didn’t think twice of it – just rest up for some of the regular season and we’ll see Luka back at it. A month and change later with 0 GP for Dallas since that 2Q exit, Doncic was traded to the Lakers for Anthony Davis. It seems ludicrous to write even now.

Rewind to summer, things were looking pretty high for the Dallas team fresh off of a NBA Finals appearance, though a 1-4 loss to the mighty Celtics… there was a lot of promise that the team would continue to challenge for the Championship. Dallas consolidated some of their salaries to make Klay Thompson an official Mav with a complicated NBA-record-6-team S/T, setting up an extra shooter on the wing [quick note: Klay has put up 14/3.5r/2a – nearly 40% from 3 on 7.7 attempts – and 72 GP – 2nd lowest PPG in a season for Klay]

The year was one full of pretty good play before Luka’s trade, though other Mavs were injured too, this team was 19-11 after that Dec, 25 Loss to Minnesota – at one point winning 11 of 12 games in a particularly nice stretch.

Flip to 2025 and almost the entire roster had various levels of injuries – from low/med severity. Most shocking was Irving's ACL injury. Kyrie out-for-season, and AD out after the trade for an adductor injury, derailed any chance at home court advantage. Dallas scratched into the 10 seed, beating the Kings on the road for play-in game 1, but suffered a decisive defeat to Memphis in play-in game 2 for the chance at the 8-seed.

Davis has played well since being the centerpiece return of the Luka trade, however he also was injured in the critical stretch-run limiting this team’s ability to stay in the top of the table. He came up gimpy in the play-in finale as Nico looked on with a side-eye. Irving’s ACL injury puts him out until at least around 2026 All Star Break, and he has contract questions to be answered.

The Mavericks management decisions here have been given a lot of discussion on this board, and this offseason it does not relent as core pieces of the roster are up for extensions. But for now, this season can end and give Mavs fans some sort release. It is still an unknown how this team will look at full strength and we won’t really get that answer until 2026 minimum.

I'm just a humble author, but Mavs fans, try to enjoy the summer and forget this dark chapter, you don't deserve this bs. It hurts me to see Luka in a Lakers jersey and I don't mean that as a slight to Laker's faithful either, it's just bananas. B A N A N A S.

Childs · Post #2 » by **Childs** » Sun Apr 20, 2025 3:47 am

blueberrysticky · Post #3 » by **blueberrysticky** » Sun Apr 20, 2025 3:48 am

Has a GM who has a team built around and for the superstar ....that he just traded.

He has successfully chosen to "not win now and not win in the future"

Jasen777 · Post #4 » by **Jasen777** » Sun Apr 20, 2025 3:53 am

Fire the front office. Fire him into the sun.

Would that you could fire the governor.

Patches Perry · Post #5 » by **Patches Perry** » Sun Apr 20, 2025 4:00 am

This one should be fun.

I think AD and Kyrie are going to prolong the inevitable rebuild by a year or two, which really screws up their timeline with their draft picks. I think they owe their 2027 pick to Charlotte, 2028 to OKC (swap), 2029 to HOU (swap), 2030 to SAS (swap). This leaves only their 2025 (this season will be late lottery) and 2026 where they will probably be in the play-in range again.

If AD/Kyrie keep them just good enough to not get a top 5-10 pick next season, then the team falls apart as those guys age out, they'll be really bad and owe all their picks to teams that are currently top 5 teams. San Antonio with Wemby will likely be really good by then too.

They really just need to start over immediately keeping Lively as the first piece. Unless they find a hidden gem in the middle of the 1st round, they're in for dark times.

Marvin Martian · Post #6 » by **Marvin Martian** » Sun Apr 20, 2025 4:02 am

There is literally nothing that can be done. Even if Kyrie comes back, he will be load managed and under 100% throughout the 2026 season, ruining their playoff position and creating further injury risk. 2026-2027 is their only shot at contending

No assets, no draft capital, no future. Disaster

HiDef · Post #7 » by **HiDef** » Sun Apr 20, 2025 5:58 am

The evidence is pretty clear from LA and the Pelicans that Anthony Davis is not a #1 superstar you can build your team around. Not to mention he's 32. I don't like their chances of competing through the west and back to the finals in the next few years.

One Last Shot · Post #8 » by **One Last Shot** » Sun Apr 20, 2025 6:23 am

Read on Twitter

CIN-C-STAR · Post #9 » by **CIN-C-STAR** » Sun Apr 20, 2025 6:34 am

Team is cooked.
No path back to contention.
Self sabotaged.
Expect them to keep Nico another year though because everyone involved has oversized egos and won’t admit how laughably bad the trade was.
AD too, and all the role players.
At which point they’ll have an old AD and Kyrie who have little value on the trade market, which will make for a long rebuild.

sp6r=underrated · Post #10 » by **sp6r=underrated** » Sun Apr 20, 2025 9:25 am

Baz · Post #11 » by **Baz** » Sun Apr 20, 2025 9:38 am

The team is dead until the owners sell and F off. The city will never forgive them for what they have done. It was the single most damaging move in the history of sports, and it will always be a hive for conspiracy theories that each make more sense than the explanation they provided. And to make matters even worse, everything they did after the fact added further insult to the fans. Screw Nico Harrison. Screw Patrick Dumont. They destroyed the Dallas Mavericks. And screw Adam Silver while we are at it. No way this should have been allowed without an investigation and to me that alone as well as his desperate defense of Dumont, telling Maverick fans to "give the owners a chance", indicates involvement. And if he wasn't involved, what is the point of his job if not to step in and stop franchise destroying moves such as this? There has never been a bleaker season to be a fan of a sports team. But I'm glad the ratings are booming & Luka is #1 on the jersey sales. Great work everyone.

-Luke- · Post #12 » by **-Luke-** » Sun Apr 20, 2025 9:43 am

Sell the team.
Fire everybody.
Trade everybody unless they are young guys with upside.
Apologize publicly to the fan base and to Luka.
Tank next season and hope for a new franchise player.

CloudWalker · Post #13 » by **CloudWalker** » Sun Apr 20, 2025 9:47 am

I will never get over Nico (+ Dumont) dismantling the Mavs. That team deserved another chance. Complete destruction of something that took you years to build and was actually working great. Feel truly bad for the fans and all the players involved.

kazyv · Post #14 » by **kazyv** » Sun Apr 20, 2025 9:56 am

CloudWalker wrote:I will never get over Nico (+ Dumont) dismantling the Mavs. That team deserved another chance. Complete destruction of something that took you years to build and was actually working great. Feel truly bad for the fans and all the players involved.

hahaha, who cares about the team? we're talking about a 25y old superstar. you can blow up and trade everyone but him and you still have plenty of time to build another team. they could even blow up another team after this when luka is 30.

this is the level of insanity were are talking about. 2 years to build? it's a 25 year old superstar in the nba. you can't build this, ever. you only ever get lucky to draft one (or gifted one, if you're the lakers I guess)

keep the FO, keep the headcoach. watch the team treadmill for another couple years as Kyrie and AD break down. those two will never win anything together. win now? more like win never again

KGDirkTD_Fan · Post #15 » by **KGDirkTD_Fan** » Sun Apr 20, 2025 10:01 am

Probably should have a question #4: Change Ownership?

Sgt Major · Post #16 » by **Sgt Major** » Sun Apr 20, 2025 10:06 am

I still have no idea why this happened. Everything that came out from the mouths of the GM and people running the team is simply unreal, ungrounded and pointless. Those people have no clue on what they've done if they wanted to improve the roster and the future of Dallas Mavericks and didn't intentionally ruin their team. It's just beyond comprehensible. I've never seen this kind of incompetence in the history of sports. There were always dumb trades or transfers, as we call it in Europe, but not a single championship contender has ever traded away its best player and one of the three biggest superstars in the league.

I feel sorry for the Mavericks and, as much of a stretch this is, I feel like they're in a position Manchester United were after the '58 plane disaster.

Petergrifindor · Post #17 » by **Petergrifindor** » Sun Apr 20, 2025 11:02 am

They burned their present to the ground. They burned their future to the ground.

There is nothing to like about that franchise. Even Dirk dislikes them.

yellowknifer · Post #18 » by **yellowknifer** » Sun Apr 20, 2025 11:07 am

Patches Perry wrote:This one should be fun.

I think AD and Kyrie are going to prolong the inevitable rebuild by a year or two, which really screws up their timeline with their draft picks. I think they owe their 2027 pick to Charlotte, 2028 to OKC (swap), 2029 to HOU (swap), 2030 to SAS (swap). This leaves only their 2025 (this season will be late lottery) and 2026 where they will probably be in the play-in range again.

If AD/Kyrie keep them just good enough to not get a top 5-10 pick next season, then the team falls apart as those guys age out, they'll be really bad and owe all their picks to teams that are currently top 5 teams. San Antonio with Wemby will likely be really good by then too.

They really just need to start over immediately keeping Lively as the first piece. Unless they find a hidden gem in the middle of the 1st round, they're in for dark times.

I think they can be better than a play in team. But it will require their gm to better balance the team which is really heavy in the front court, Kyrie to come back 100 and for their stars to stay healthy. It’s a big ask. And not much reason to think it’s likely. Grimes was a bad trade too. Especially for a team that needs ball handling, playmakers and offense in general.

jpengland · Post #19 » by **jpengland** » Sun Apr 20, 2025 11:44 am

**** the Dallas Mavericks*

*From a Mavs fan of nearly 30 years*

dirkdiggler4177 · Post #20 » by **dirkdiggler4177** » Sun Apr 20, 2025 12:42 pm

A lot of posters here will use this result, as I told you, but last time, the Mavs did not make the playoffs because Luka and Kyrie were always injured. The same happened this regular season. If not for the injuries, the Mavericks would be in the playoffs now.

Harrison has made some great moves earlier, especially last offseason when he signed Grant Williams (which sucked) and he was able to turn it into PJ and Gafford. The Mavs would never have made the finals without those moves.

I assume the Mavs will get a point guard this offseason, and if injury-free, the Mavs can become one of the best defensive teams next season.

Select one of each option (4 total questions)