With the Dallas Mavericks on the verge of missing the post-season entirely, it’s pretty wild that they’ve technically been the most successful team in Texas this season.
For decades, the Spurs were among the NBA’s best, and the Rockets weren’t too far behind with guys like Hakeem Olajuwon and James Harden helping make the franchise competitive. This season, however, if the Mavs continue their downward trajectory, it could be the first time in NBA history that none of the three Texas teams have made the playoffs.
This season, the Rockets, Spurs, and Mavericks have a combined record of just 78-101, and the Southwest division as a whole only includes one team (Memphis Grizzlies) with a 55% win rate or above.
Needless to say, it’s been bad for Texas basketball lately, and it’s truly been shocking to see how bad these teams have been. For the Spurs and Rockets, their struggles were somewhat expected given their ongoing rebuild, but they will be in the lead for Victor Wembanyama this summer, so that situation could change on a dime.
For the Mavericks, however, the stakes are very real, and a failure to improve could mean a collapse of all they’ve built in the Luka Doncic era.
Can Mavericks Become A Contender Again?
This season, even after losing Jalen Brunson, the Mavs were supposed to be a lock for the playoffs, thanks to Luka Doncic and what many thought was a solid roster in Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, and others.
After the Kyrie Irving trade, expectations heightened for the franchise that the team has been unable to meet so far. Worse still is that Kyrie Irving’s looming free agency could mean he leaves for nothing in a few months, which would leave Luka pretty much by himself.
The good news is Kyrie seems open to re-signing — but the Mavericks will need to do more if they want to build a true title contender.
For now, they can only take it one game at a time and hope for the best as they close out the last stretch of the regular season. No matter what happens, Luka is the future of not only the Mavericks but maybe basketball for the entire state.
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