While the Los Angeles Lakers have enjoyed a 12-2 record since landing Luka Doncic, the Dallas Mavericks are 6-8 since trading away their franchise superstar. Those six wins came due to the efforts of Kyrie Irving, who tore his ACL on Monday.
Advertisement
In the 10 games leading up to his injury, Irving was averaging 39.3 minutes per game — the most by a player across the league during that timespan. With his season shut down and Anthony Davis still on the mend, Dallas is experiencing one of the worst falloffs in recent history.
According to most fans, the misfortunes of the Mavericks are entirely the fault of general manager, Nico Harrison, who has faced a swathe of public criticism over the past month. However, he isn’t entirely without sympathizers either. Carmelo Anthony is one.
“This is where you just, it’s downhill. And there’s no stopping… He gotta be losing sleep right now, it’s gotta be very stressful,” said Anthony about the Mavs GM’s predicament.
“You think you’re doing something that’s special, revolutionary and first, AD go down and now, Kyrie go down. You already got [Dereck] Lively over here on the bench, you got [Daniel] Gafford on the bench,” Anthony added on his podcast, 7PM in Brooklyn.
With nine key rotational players on their injury report, last season’s Western Conference champions are unlikely to even make the Play-In tournament this year. And Melo understands just how much of the blame will be shouldered by Harrison. “Nico’s getting punched in the mouth,” the 10-time All-Star added.
Though Anthony didn’t say that he agreed with any of Harrison’s moves, he did feel bad for the 52-year-old. After all, he has been pulling the strings in Dallas since 2021 and was part of the reason for the franchise’s Finals run last season.
Nonetheless, the haphazard trading away of Doncic and the ensuing slander campaign initiated by the Mavericks has left a bitter taste in everybody’s mouth.
Mark Cuban is also upset by the Doncic trade
After purchasing a majority stake of the Mavericks in 2000, Mark Cuban became the most hands-on owner in the NBA. He built a relationship with the fanbase and his players, creating a new culture in the franchise.
The Texas-based businessman recently shared his thoughts on the trade that kept Dallas awake on the night of February 1. When asked if he was upset, Cuban candidly responded, “Yeah, of course,” during an exclusive interview with WFAA.
When he drafted Doncic in 2018, Cuban vowed to never part ways with the Slovenian superstar. However, just a year after, he sold 73% of his stake to the Adelson-Dumont family. The new ownership decided not to honor Cuban’s promise to Luka and the Mavericks’ fanbase.
“If the Mavs are going to trade Luka, that’s one thing. Just get a better deal. No disrespect to Anthony Davis… If we had gotten four unprotected no. 1’s and Anthony Davis and Max Christie, this would be a different conversation,” Cuban said.
The unfortunate end to Doncic’s tenure in Dallas has inadvertently shuttered the Mavericks’ 2024-25 campaign. Five weeks after the trade, Max Christie is among the few healthy players remaining on Jason Kidd’s roster.
One can only imagine what their season would be looking like right now if Cuban still held the reins.
