DALLAS — As the NBA Play-In tournament begins to thin out the championship contenders, the Dallas Mavericks will be enjoying some well earned rest as they await an opening round playoff series against their recent playoff rival Los Angeles Clippers.
Dallas finished the 2023-2024 regular season with a record of 50-32, good for 5th in the loaded Western Conference and a far cry removed from how they ended things a season ago when they missed the playoffs entirely and sparked outrage about their apparent tanking for draft positioning.
Here a year later, Dallas’ astounding finish saw them one game shy of stealing the 4th seed and homecourt from the Clippers in the season’s final days. The Mavericks have come a long way since last spring and they even came a long way during the season itself after being left for dead at many points during the campaign.
The transformation from offseason question mark into legitimate contender can be traced back to the front office hitting on several gambles as they looked to maximize the roster around their All-World superstar.
Irving finds his home
After re-signing in Dallas over the summer, Kyrie Irving’s 13th NBA season saw the guard finish with an average of 25.6 points per game during a nearly 50/40/90 percentage year. His percentages on field goals (49.7%) , three-pointers (41.1%), and free-throws (90.5%) surpassed his career averages, and he quietly had one of the best seasons of his storied career.
Not only did Kyrie show a dedicated effort on the court, producing a regular season worthy of a Comeback Player of the Year award, he showed a dedication to being a team leader and developed the kind of chemistry with backcourt mate Luka Doncic not seen since the departure of Jalen Brunson.
After a false start following being traded to Dallas last season, the Mavs entered this year looked at as being locked in a desperation marriage with Irving, and they now enter the playoffs rewarded with the best backcourt in the entire league motivated to change perceptions.
Front office comes through
The whimper at an end to the 2022-2023 season netted Dallas the good fortune of offloading Davis Bertans and turning him into 20-year-old Duke Center Dereck Lively II. It was a tight squeeze. If Dallas had won just one more game last season, their pick would have been lost.
For all the consternation about tanking in one of the years of Doncic’s prime, Lively arrived and entrenched himself as the starting center relatively quickly, providing Doncic and Irving with a rim running lob target that they had desperately needed. Lively ended his season with the highest field goal percentage by a rookie in NBA history (74.7%).
At the other end of the offseason war chest, minimum contract signings Dante Exum and Derrick Jones Jr. quickly became more than just end of bench rotation pieces, contributing athleticism, three-point shooting, and defense that over-performed their cap numbers by a wide margin.
With defensive issues remaining in the frontcourt, Dallas pickpocketing Daniel Gafford and P.J Washington in separate acquisitions ahead of the trade deadline not only improved the depth and quality of the roster, they also added to their impressive young core for the long term.
What appeared to be an expensive and ineffective roster around Doncic and Irving saw the addition of two 25-year-olds in Gafford and Washington as the team was remade on the fly. Both deadline players are signed through 2026 on team-friendly cap numbers, and Exum is signed through 2025.
The slow ascent
Injuries took their toll on Dallas early in the season and they floundered in December and January. It was no surprise to see the Mavs’ two worst months coming during an extended injury absence for Irving. When the All-Star guard returned to the lineup in early February, the trade deadline energy infusion saw the team finish the month 8-2 on their way to their best stretch of the season.
Still, Dallas had ground to make up as their playoff hopes slipped as far as 8th place in the Western Conference, and they entered March in that setting, remaining there as late as March 16th.
As North Texas began to stir from a mild winter, Dallas saw their season come together. After going 11-4 in the final full month of the regular season, Dallas climbed to 5th by the end of the month, earning the Southwest division title, as they leapfrogged New Orleans, Sacramento, and Phoenix to avoid the play-in crapshoot.
Doncic challenges the record books
The elevation of Luka Doncic in his sixth NBA season may end with the first MVP trophy for a Maverick since Dirk Nowitzki. It might take a voter uprising to wrest the award from two-time winner Nikola Jokic, but Doncic enjoyed one of the best regular seasons in NBA history.
Doncic became the first Maverick ever to win the league scoring title (33.9 PPG), was second in the league in assists (9.8), averaged nearly ten rebounds per game (9.2), and showed a prevalent increase in defensive commitment. He messed around and got 21 triple-doubles on the season, and had a scoring high of 73.
The 2023-2024 season was the next evolution of Doncic and the next step forward for a player who continues to get better even as he’s already the best player on any court he steps on.
Doncic more than likely won’t hold the Michael Jordan Trophy awarded to the MVP, but his insane season should not be allowed to be normalized or taken for granted. The burden will now fall on Doncic to lead the best roster that he’s been a part of during his time with Dallas deep into the playoffs where national media narratives are made.
Do you think the Mavericks have had a successful season regardless of the final outcome? Share your thoughts with Irvin on Twitter @Twittirv.
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