The Wonder Boy: Luka Doncic and the Curse of Greatness

Then there was the matter of Dončić’s happiness, or lack thereof. The subject dominated the conversation about the Mavs throughout the league because it was a potential domino that could change the balance of power in the NBA. The Mavs got the gift of unwavering loyalty from Dirk Nowitzki, the face of the franchise for a generation, but Mark Cuban acknowledged that Dončić’s commitment to Dallas couldn’t be taken for granted.

“Look, players don’t talk like that, just like, ‘Hey, I’m here for the next 17 years,’” Cuban said. “He’d like to be here the whole time, but we’ve got to earn that.”

How could the Mavs do that? Cuban’s suggested solution was easy to say and difficult to do.

“Win championships,” Cuban said. “It’s amazing how that cures all. I mean, before Giannis won, everybody was like, ‘Where’s he going? Where’s he going? He’s not staying. He’s not staying.’ Jokić, while they haven’t won, da, da, da, da, da. Dirk before [the Mavs won the 2010– 11 title], right? There’s no great player, no superstar, where they don’t question, ‘What are you gonna do if you haven’t won yet?’”

A few hours later, Kyrie Irving scored 19 points in the fourth quarter as the Mavs pulled out a win over the Kings. Dallas’s slim play- in hopes were still flickering. “Just desperation basketball,” Irving said postgame. “It’s not like it’s the first time I’ve been in a must-win game, so it felt good.”

But over the next 36 hours or so, Dallas decision-makers determined that the two remaining dates on the Mavs’ schedule were must-lose games. If Dallas dropped their last two games, they’d have about an 80 percent chance of keeping their pick entering the lottery. If they won both, they still needed the Thunder to lose one just to squeak into the play-in. The call was essentially announced when the Mavs updated the official injury report the morning of their April 7 home game against the Bulls. Irving, Tim Hardaway Jr., Josh Green, Maxi Kleber, and Christian Wood were all downgraded to out due to minor injury issues or rest. This was a bumbling, transparent tank job. Timing was of the essence, as the Mavs and Bulls were tied for the 10th-best lottery odds.

But the timing was also awkward. It was the second annual “I Feel Slovenia” night at the American Airlines Center, and Dončić had missed the inaugural edition the previous season, disappointing hundreds of his countrymen who had flown in for the festivities celebrating their homeland. A compromise was reached: Dončić would play the first quarter before calling it a season.

Dončić ended up playing one offensive possession into the second quarter, scoring on a post-up and then committing an intentional foul so he could check out of the game. The intention was to allow fans to shower Dončić with a standing ovation as he concluded the greatest individual statistical season (32.4 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 8.0 assists per game) in franchise history. Instead, the crowd responded with a smattering of confused clapping.

Dončić changed into sweats at halftime and watched from the bench as the Mavs blew a 13-point lead. He seemed loose and relaxed in the seconds before the Mavs were officially eliminated from play-in contention. He covered his mouth and chuckled to teammates before the game’s final possession, when a couple of Mavs on two-way contracts missed three potential game-tying three-pointers, none of which drew iron.

“It’s not so much waving the white flag,” Jason Kidd said after the 115–112 loss, attributing the choice to Cuban and Nico Harrison, although the coach was fully on board with it behind the scenes. “Decisions sometimes are hard in this business, and you have to make hard decisions. We’re trying to build a championship team, and sometimes you got to take a step back.”

The decision was made despite Dončić’s public protest a few days prior. The Mavs’ front office could live with making Dončić mad for a moment if the scheming helped the franchise bounce back from this debacle of a season. The real disaster would be if Harrison and his staff failed to make the drastic roster upgrades the Mavs desperately needed and, as a consequence, couldn’t make a realistic case that the franchise was on the path toward contention. They had limited assets for this roster reconstruction, and the lottery pick would rank as the best among them.

“Once we didn’t control our own destiny, it was like, all right, we can’t be foolish,” Harrison said later, well after the league office’s investigation reached the obvious conclusion, resulting in a harshly worded statement and a $750,000 fine. “The worst-case scenario was we were 11 versus being 10— and you don’t make the play-in and don’t get your pick. Then I think I would probably look more foolish than doing it the opposite way.”

The Mavs conducted their media exit interviews immediately after a bunch of backups wrapped up this season to forget with a blowout home loss to the Spurs, whose more traditional tank job had already secured them a bottom-three record, maximizing their odds to win the lottery that ultimately delivered Wembanyama to San Antonio. Dončić didn’t talk after the previous game, when the Mavs pulled the plug, and didn’t have much to say about that matter other than that he “didn’t like that decision.” However, he downplayed the threat of him leaving Dallas in the near future. He wasn’t fond of ESPN reporting that the organization feared Dončić could request a trade as soon as the summer of 2024 if the Mavs didn’t make major progress the next season.

“It was funny, you know, because I didn’t know that was true,” Dončić said sarcastically. “I didn’t say it.”

Dončić didn’t have to say a word about a trade request for the Mavs’ front office to operate with that sense of urgency. That’s the reality of the modern- day NBA. The sense from people who knew Dončić well was that he genuinely enjoyed Dallas and wouldn’t look for reasons to leave, but the Mavs had to make sure those reasons— like another losing season— weren’t smacking him in the face.

“I think our job really to keep Luka happy, if you will, is surrounding him by the right players to help him win,” Harrison said a couple of days later. “And I think Luka’s a talent that deserves that.”

But Dončić wanted to ease the pressure, at least publicly, before heading back to Slovenia for the summer. “I’m happy here, so there’s nothing to worry [about],” Dončić said.

Of course, Dončić wasn’t happy about the Mavs’ 38–44 record and missing the playoffs for the first time since his rookie year. “Some things got to change, for sure,” Dončić acknowledged. It was an embarrassing way to end the season for a perennial MVP candidate, especially after Irving’s midseason arrival created so much excitement. But Dallas went 7– 18 after the duo’s debut together, falling from fourth in the West to an early vacation. The Mavs were only 5– 11 in games Dončić and Irving played together, which is the worst winning percentage (.313) for a pair of teammates who were both All-Stars since the ABA- NBA merger in 1976–77, according to ESPN Stats and Information research. But Dončić remained confident that the co-stars could form the foundation of a contender.

“I think it’s a great fit,” Dončić said. “Obviously people are going to say no [and] look at the results we are having, but like I said, chemistry and relationships takes time. I wish he can still be here.”

Harrison reiterated during his season-ending media availability that re-signing Irving would be the Mavs’ top summer priority. Harrison expressed optimism that it would happen, citing comments Irving had repeatedly made “about how he feels here, how he feels appreciated, how he feels accepted and allowed to be himself.” Harrison firmly believed that the Dončić-Irving duo could work, despite evidence to the contrary.

“I really think it’s the players around them . . . kind of knowing their role with having those two guys out on the floor at the same time,” Harrison said, emphasizing the need for good defenders who had high basketball IQs to fill out the supporting cast. “I think that’s the thing that we need to work on.”

Irving opted out of the exit interviews with the media and managed to steer completely clear of the subject entering his free agency summer, leaving people to wonder whether his silence spoke volumes.

Irving mostly kept a low profile while living and training in Los Angeles during the offseason. But he raised eyebrows with a couple of very public appearances, attending a pair of Lakers home playoff games. His seats were directly across from the home bench. On both occasions, after LeBron James was introduced in the starting lineups, he jogged over to greet Irving. They exchanged hugs and their customized handshake from their days together in Cleveland. It sure felt like pre-free agency flirting, similar to Irving’s infamous All-Star hallway chat with Kevin Durant months before they became a package deal headed to Brooklyn.

Speculation about the Lakers pursuing Irving had plenty of fuel. LA could have made a legitimate bid by bidding farewell to free agents point guard D’Angelo Russell and forward Rui Hachimura and making a smaller salary-dump trade or two. However, Lakers GM Rob Pelinka immediately hushed that conversation, declaring during his exit interview that the franchise planned to lean into continuity. Pelinka followed through on that plan, as the Lakers never showed any interest in signing Irving.

A few weeks before free agency officially opened, there were reports that Irving planned to recruit James to join him in Dallas. It was a juicy twist— if only it were even remotely feasible. James wasn’t a free agent. Even if he shockingly decided to force a trade— leaving the entertainment empire he had built in LA just as his son Bronny entered his freshman year at nearby USC— the Mavs had no way to make an offer to the Lakers anywhere close to the appropriate value.

Reports before free agency about Irving intending to meet with the Phoenix Suns were just as silly. The Suns, who had just traded for Bradley Beal to play alongside Durant and Devin Booker, could only offer the veteran’s minimum. There just wasn’t much of a market for Irving outside of Dallas, certainly not above the midlevel exception.

The Mavs were offering $120 million guaranteed over three years, plus another $6 million in incentives tied to games played and wins. Irving, whose agent is his stepmom Shetellia Riley Irving, officially agreed to the deal in the opening hour of free agency. The Mavs received some media criticism for bidding against themselves, but Harrison’s goal wasn’t to win the negotiation. It was to have a happy Irving on a roster that had flexibility to be upgraded. This deal accomplished that, awarding Irving a contract that reflected his production and status while providing the Mavs enough wiggle room within the salary cap rules to have their midlevel exception available.

“It wasn’t too difficult of a process,” Irving said when he finally met with the media again during the first week of training camp. “Had Dallas as number one on my list. Obviously I looked elsewhere— salary cap opportunities, where I could fit in with other guys around the league— but there just wasn’t much space. And me being 31 now, I had to have a different vantage point, and I felt like I could not just settle here but be happy to come back here and be welcomed back with a warm embrace.”

Source link