“Most Stacked Team Luka Doncic’s Ever Had”: Former NBA Champion Calls It ‘NBA Finals or Bust’ for Mavericks

Ahead of the Dallas Mavericks-Golden State Warriors clash tonight, Channing Frye and Danny Green spoke about the potential of Luka Doncic and co.’s ongoing campaign. Jason Kidd’s boys’ 11-2 record in their past 13 games prompted Frye to claim that the team should at least repeat their result from the previous campaign.

Otherwise, the tandem would be considered a failure, especially with the way Dallas athletes are performing.

“They gotta go to the NBA Finals. I think this is the most stacked team that Luka has ever had… This is an all-or-nothing team,” the 41-year-old analyst said on NBA TV.

Frye talked about how Kyrie Irving has been balling out this season to take the offensive workload off of Doncic. Role players like Daniel Gafford, PJ Washington, and Dereck Lively II are also playing their part well. So the 2016 Champion declared that anything under a Finals appearance is a bust for a healthy Mavericks side.

Frye’s co-panelist Danny Green had a different opinion, however. Having played in the West for 10 years in his career, Green has first-hand experience of how stacked the Conference is. Hence, the three-time NBA champ reduced the bar for the Texan side by stating that a trip to the Western Conference Finals would also be regarded as a successful year.

“I think Western Conference Finals is still a pretty good achievement for them. If they get to the finals, it’d be great. The West is always stacked… Ultimately, the West is so good, it’s hard to say you’re not having a successful season if you make the Western Conference Finals,” Green said.

Frye is not wrong in saying that the tandem of Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, and role players like P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford, marks the strongest team of Doncic‘s career. He has made deep playoff runs in the past few seasons, so the expectations have now rightfully shifted to the NBA Finals and beyond.

But Green’s argument also makes sense. Dallas outperformed last season and were the underdogs to go to the Finals. So we have to keep that in mind before setting this year’s expectations.

A trip to the Western Conference Finals would be a significant achievement, given the level of competition in the Western Conference. However, the team’s summer transactions and the sense of urgency they’ve displayed since mid-November suggest that the Mavericks are in win-now mode.

Doncic and co. have catapulted to the #4 spot in the West

After the initial three weeks of the 2024-2025 season, the Mavericks’ prospects of replicating their previous season’s success appeared doubtful. The reigning Western Conference champs had an awful 5-7 record that included losses against the ailing Indiana Pacers and the Utah Jazz.

But the Mavericks have completely flipped the switch since their two-point loss vs the Jazz on 14^th November. The All-Star duo of Doncic and Kyrie Irving have led the team to improve drastically, resulting in an 11-2 record since then.

The Mavs defeated powerhouses such as the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Denver Nuggets, and the New York Knicks during this span, reigniting championship aspirations among their fans.