The Dallas Mavericks torpedoed their future by trading Luka Doncic in early February, a deal that will likely be remembered as the worst trade in NBA history. It was malpractice then, and it’s still the worst move a general manager could ever make in the NBA.
Since that trade, the Mavericks have struggled to stay afloat as the injury bug has moved through the roster like a tornado. On Tuesday morning, the Mavericks got dealt the death blow after the team announced that All-Star guard Kyrie Irving sustained a torn ACL in his left knee that will sideline him for the remainder of the season. That adds Irving to a list of injured players that already includes Anthony Davis — who sustained an adductor strain in his first game with the Mavericks after being obtained in the Dončić trade — P.J. Washington, Dereck Lively II, Daniel Gafford, Jaden Hardy and Caleb Martin.
The Mavericks already had a grim outlook for the rest of the season after trading away a 26-year-old perennial MVP candidate in Dončić, but this latest news of Irving’s injury all but ends Dallas’ quest to make the playoffs. In reality, the Mavericks have no other choice than to tank the rest of the season, and possibly next season, too.
Irving has been the primary reason Dallas has managed to stay competitive both prior to Dončić getting traded and after. Dating back to when Dončić went down with a calf strain on Christmas Day, Irving ranks 12th in points (26.1) and eighth in minutes (37.0). He’s one of only two players age 30 or older who rank in the top 10 in minutes since Christmas; the other is Kevin Durant. With Irving now out for the rest of the season, Dallas lacks the engine that made this team go, and more importantly its top scorer.
The ripple effects of Irving’s prognosis completely alter the Mavericks’ plans going forward. Now there’s no reason to rush back Davis, who was expected to be reevaluated later this week with a possible return coming soon, and in fact incentive to not do so. The same goes for Lively — who is still in a walking boot — and Gafford, both of whom were also supposed to receive updates to their injuries on Thursday. Now the Mavericks must shift gears from trying to make a late push for Play-In positioning to prioritizing the draft.
If the season ended today, the Mavericks would have the 13th pick in the upcoming NBA Draft, not a bad position to have in what is expected to be a deep class. But if Dallas continues to lose, they could climb up the draft board, potentially as high as the No. 8 or No. 9 spots, giving them a significantly greater shot at landing a top-4 pick if the lottery balls fall in their favor.
Landing anywhere in the lottery would net Dallas a quality young player for the future, though Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison made it clear at his press conference following the Dončić trade that he’s less concerned with the team’s long-term plans, saying, “the future to me is three, four years from now. The future 10 years from now, I don’t know, they’ll probably bury me and [coach Jason Kidd] by then. Or we bury ourselves.”
With those puzzling comments in mind, there’s a world in which Harrison uses that lottery selection in a trade to go get someone who can help carry out his short-sighted goals. Though, if Irving is expected to be sidelined for a full year — which is typical for an ACL tear — then that would mean his return wouldn’t come until February or March 2026. So now, those short-term goals Harrison and new Mavericks owner Patrick Dumont preached are getting kicked further and further down the line.
If Irving can’t return until March 2026, then the Mavericks are in store for another season where tanking might be the best option. The whole reason Harrison went out and got Davis was to create a dynamic pairing with Irving, but with the latter out of the picture for what could be a year, now what?
Tanking isn’t just the best option, it’s the only option at this rate for the Mavericks. And the fact that this is where the team’s at just nine months removed from an NBA Finals appearance makes that reality even more bleak.
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