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The Dallas Mavericks roller coaster of a season is over. Following a one-sided victory by the Memphis Grizzlies in the final play-in game and last chance to make the field. Of course, a year after they made a run to the NBA Finals and positioned themselves to potentially return.
In February, the Dallas Mavericks were in playoff contention. Near the top of the conference rankings, despite key players missing time. I am not sure if anyone would have been surprised if the team as constructed heading into the month made another run. But that would not be the case.
The controversial trade of a generational superstar before the trade deadline change the trajectory of the team and the league in terms of ratings. The NBA reportedly saw a dip of 2% in ratings, based on recent comments by Commissioner Adam Silver. But, the damage was limited because of the new interest by a seemingly one-sided trade.
Luka Doncic, a generational global talent still in his prime, sent to the Lakers, who will now contend for years to come. The Mavericks out of the playoffs in a trade that seemed like they were putting all their chips in the pot for this season, given the potential opt outs. It completely did not work out as intended.
Defense does win or at the very least contributes greatly to championships. But there was no defense being played by the Mavericks on Friday night. Hard pill to swallow for their fans. A single decision ended their ability to contend.
There are many things that look good on paper, but fail to come close to any expectation in reality. This is a good example of an organizational and brand mistake that will probably plague the team for quite some time. At least, as long as Luka Doncic is an active NBA player.
There are 3 paths forward for any organization making a controversial decision that did not pan out. One they can double down and just believe it is a timing problem. Or they can cut and run removing any party involved in the failure. Or they can kind of take the we tried but failed and we are okay with it for now middle of the road.
Interesting to see what path is taken. The fans are probably seeing only one of them as a viable option.