Eventhough they went down to the Milwaukee Bucks and Memphis Grizzlies over the last two games, the players on the court are still playing extremely hard, and young guys like Brandon Williams are making names for themselves during this tough stretch for at least a glimpse of hope for a young piece to grow in the near future. With horrific injuries to multiple key Mavericks, it’s looking more likely that the Mavericks’ path to the playoffs is going to take a significant miracle.
Nico Harrison’s decision to trade Luka Doncic is looking more like a direct backfire every single day. The biggest fear for the Mavericks is coming true to light, and it’s pretty easy to see.
Harrison helped Lakers skyrocket while Mavs are left in the dust
Since the Doncic trade, the Lakers have gone on a tear, putting Doncic in a position he’s never seen before, and that’s winning eight games in a row. The Lakers are now looking at the number two seed in the West, after being in the middle of the pack up until the Doncic trade.
Harrison thought that the Mavericks were going to be better in the short term and the long term, and that couldn’t be more false. He destroyed a dynasty in the making, and his return from the Doncic trade was unacceptable.
On the contrary, the Mavericks have fallen in the standings while suffering blow after blow to multiple key players. They’ve dipped into .500 territory while looking like a much older team from the Doncic trade. Just for a glimpse of hope, Davis provided Mavs fans with a slight thought of everything being OK, but that came crashing down after only his first three quarters in a Maverick uniform when he went down with an adductor strain.
Doncic and LeBron James have become an excellent pair, they’re both some of the greatest mix of scorers and passers the NBA has ever seen, and they are turning the Lakers into serious contenders for an NBA title.
If the Lakers were to win an NBA title with Doncic, Nico Harrison will be the first person that everybody will point at. Mavs fans might be going through the stages of grief until the end of time for Harrison trading away Doncic. He’s a once-in-a-generational player, and it’s extremely rare that any professional sports team has a perfect transition from one Hall of Fame player in Dirk Nowitzki to another future Hall of Fame player in Doncic.
This was the generational fumble of NBA history. If the Mavericks still were to have an injury-filled season, and Doncic were to still be playing in a Maverick uniform, then so be it. The answer is not to trade away your generational talent, and unfortunately, Harrison gave the Lakers the toolbox while leaving his own team in the dust.
