Dallas Mavericks
The 2024-25 Dallas Mavericks can be defined by not making the playoffs a year after being in The Finals — thanks to the worst trade in NBA history.
And then landing the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft Lottery with a 1.8 percent chance.
What did we learn?
Nico Harrison did the unthinkable.
The Mavs GM went rogue and traded away the franchise superstar.
Luka Magic. The MF Don.
Gone. In a flash.
TO THE LAKERS.
AD, Max Christie and a 2029 1st was nowhere close to enough. We thought for sure Shams got hacked. (A big part of us still thinks he did.)
There is incompetence and then there is complete and utter self-sabotage to the highest degree.
That’s what we had here.
Now listen, AD and Max Christie are fine ball players. But they are not Luka Doncic — the type of superstar you go to sleep at night praying falls into your team’s lap in the draft. (More on this later.)
AD is 32 now with a long history of injury issues which showed up 31 seconds minutes into his Mavs debut. Trading Luka immediately put a more demanding workload and burden on Kyrie’s shoulders as the team’s offensive creator. Sure enough, Kyrie then went down with a torn ACL.
Poof.
Just like that, the season was cooked.
No Luka insurance policy.
No playoffs.
Just a shattered fan base chanting:
FIRE NICO!
***************************************
Then May 12th, 2025 happened.
The NBA Draft Lottery.
With just a 1.8 percent chance, the Mavs won the lottery for the first time in franchise history.
The No. 1 pick of Cooper Flagg falling right into their laps — the same type of game-changing superstar you go to sleep at night praying is granted to your team.
Sometimes the basketball gods gift you a second chance.
And so, what will Nico Harrison do now?
Trading for Giannis was the first thing on everyone’s mind.
We damn sure know he’s not afraid to do it.
Or maybe he learned a valuable lesson.
_____________________________________
Additional Notes
There is an absolute plethora of bigs already here with AD, Gafford and Lively. Will they consolidate some of that size? Well, at least AD could always have his 5…
The Mavs final record on the season was 39-43. But when P.J. Washington played and scored at least 10 points? The Mavs were 10 games above .500 at 26-16. That’s quite the bellwether stat for you.
It’s crazy to just now be mentioning our guy Klay Thompson. Klay did not sign up for this, but he was one of just three Mavs players to play more than 60 games this season at 72. (Spencer Dinwiddie’s 79 and Naji Marshall’s 69 games were the other two.)
Speaking of Naji Marshall, he had his best season in the NBA yet given his biggest opportunity. Try to avoid looking at his 27.5 percent from 3 and focus on his 61 percent on 2s.
Let’s not forget that Nico not only traded away Luka but also Quentin Grimes who racked up five games of 30+ points for the Sixers, including games with 46 and 44 points.
_____________________________________
Did our preseason Over/Under prediction hit?
This year, we aren’t betting against The Don. Over 47.5 wins.
Mavs 2024-25 record: (39-43)
No it did not. Never in a million years would we have thought they would trade The Don. And we never would have taken the Over had we known that.
_____________________________________
What’s Next?
The No. 1 overall pick in the draft. COOPER MF FLAGG.
Get well soon, Kyrie. In the meantime, they will have to figure out how to handle his next contract… Kyrie does have a player option for next season which would make things easier on the Mavs.
“Defense wins championships” will be the running joke theme to watch here to see what else Nico does with this roster.
_____________________________________
Favorite Mavs Highlight of the 2024-25 Season:
AD didn’t have to return to this season.
But he did.
And he gave it everything he had.
