The Dallas Mavericks seem to have thrown in the towel for this NBA season, with their decision to rest a lot of their key players for the game against the Chicago Bulls.
Initially, Luka Doncic wasn’t one of those players, but it was announced that he would sit out after a quarter. Head coach Jason Kidd was asked about the controversial route that the Mavs have taken and how Doncic reacted to the news.
“I can’t speak for him,” Kidd said, via Tim MacMahon of ESPN. “But I think when you look at, we all said that we want to have the opportunity to find a way to get in and we were gonna play until told otherwise. And today is the day that we’ve been told that we’re gonna do something different. And so he’s gonna participate in the first quarter and then he’s done for the season.”
Here’s Jason Kidd’s answer on how Luka Doncic reacted to the Mavs’ organizational decision to pull the plug three days after the All-NBA guard declared he wanted to play as long as there were even the slimmest postseason hopes: pic.twitter.com/9hUUBqts4m
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) April 7, 2023
It clearly doesn’t seem like Kidd and the players were too happy with what the organization decided here. They would have wanted to compete until they were officially eliminated, but with their first-round draft pick being top-10 protected, the top brass wants to make sure they get that pick by losing their remaining two games. Luka scored 11 points in the first quarter here and after scoring two points to start off the second, he exited the game.
Luka Doncic stayed in to start the second quarter, got a bucket, took a foul and checked out. His season is over, barring a change in plans.
Maybe the Mavs were trying to get him a standing ovation? That didn't happen. There was a smattering of confused clapping.
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) April 8, 2023
For those wondering why he even played, it is the second annual “I Feel Slovenia Night” organized by the Mavericks. Doncic probably did not want to disappoint his countrymen who would have shown up for the game. As for the rest of the team, they clearly don’t want to lose as they are up double digits at halftime against the Bulls.
A Pivotal Offseason Awaits The Mavericks
The Mavericks’ chances of making the play-in, even if they win here, are slim. They need the Oklahoma City Thunder to lose their last game against the Memphis Grizzlies, who will probably rest their key players, to have any chance of getting the 10th seed.
Their season looks set to end on Sunday, which means it is time for the front office to get to work with regard to their offseason plans. Owner Mark Cuban made it clear their top priority is to re-sign Kyrie Irving, as it should be. While they haven’t won with Irving, they cannot afford to have a player of his caliber leave for nothing in free agency.
If they fail to re-sign him, it would be a devastating blow and they’d need a few years to recover from it. They’ll do everything possible to keep him, but that isn’t the case for Christian Wood, who seems to be on his way out. Trading for Wood last year seems to have just been another mistake in a long line of mistakes that this organization has made in recent times.
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