At that particular moment, Doncic was in the midst of scoring 23 points in the first quarter on his new home court in downtown Los Angeles. He finished with 49 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists in a Lakers victory that night, a stark contrast to the Mavs’ miserable evening that perfectly encapsulated the trade’s lopsided nature.
Harrison’s gamble backfires spectacularly
That foreshadowed the first few weeks of the season that ultimately sealed the fate of Harrison, who was fired in a Tuesday morning meeting with team governor Patrick Dumont, who came to deeply regret approving Harrison’s plan to dump Doncic. The deal sent Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a 2029 first-round pick to Dallas, a return executives around the league considered extremely underwhelming for a perennial MVP candidate just entering his prime.
Harrison boldly proclaimed the day after the trade that time will tell if he’s right. Nine months later, time ran out on Harrison as his gamble collapsed spectacularly. The Mavs have one of the NBA’s worst offenses and sit at the bottom of the Western Conference, ahead of only the New Orleans Pelicans, with a dismal 3-8 record as Doncic shines for the 8-3 Lakers, leading the league with 37.1 points per game while also averaging 9.4 rebounds and 9.1 assists.
Davis’ absence compounds organizational dysfunction
Davis, meanwhile, has played in just 14 regular-season games for the Mavs, missing most of last season with an abdominal injury. Doncic’s absence continues to hang over the franchise like a dark cloud, even after a historic stroke of lottery luck delivered the first overall pick prized prospect Cooper Flagg to Dallas.
That was encapsulated by a surreal scene at the start of the second half of Monday night’s home loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, the sixth consecutive game Davis missed with a left calf strain. Dumont, attending his first game since a season-opening blowout loss to the San Antonio Spurs, engaged in a cordial conversation with an 18-year-old man who was wearing Doncic’s gold No. 77 Lakers jersey.
That fan, whose family has season tickets a few rows behind Dumont’s courtside seats, approached Dumont at his father’s urging to apologize for flipping him off and cursing at him late in the October 22 season-opening loss. Dumont reportedly expressed remorse for the Doncic trade during their conversation.
Offensive collapse exposes roster construction failures
Other than the constant negativity that has hung over the franchise, the most glaring issue is the abysmal offense, which has a massive void in shot creation and playmaking. One Western Conference executive bluntly assessed that there is a Luka-sized hole on that roster that cannot be filled easily.
Dallas climbed out of dead last in the league’s offensive efficiency rankings over the weekend but remains ahead of only the injury-ravaged Indiana Pacers, scoring only 104.2 points per 100 possessions. Coach Jason Kidd started Flagg at point guard, a position the 18-year-old had never before played at any level, in the first seven games of the season before pulling the plug on that failed experiment.
Dallas ranks last in the league in three-pointers made at 9.6 per game and three-point percentage at 29.5 percent. The Mavs rank 27th in assists at 27.7 per game. These shortcomings were entirely predictable, considering how much their roster construction is tilted toward frontcourt players rather than perimeter creators.
Home court becomes hostile environment
The atmosphere at the American Airlines Center has been so miserable that the Mavs considered home court to be a disadvantage rather than an asset. One player bemoaned that these people don’t want us to win, according to team sources. The Mavs’ home-heavy schedule has only made maintaining decent morale more difficult, with Dallas posting a 2-5 record on its home floor.
Center Daniel Gafford acknowledged after Monday night’s loss that at times the fans’ unrelenting focus on Harrison being fired was disheartening for the players. But they all know they have a job to do, and it’s going to be a long season trying to win back a lot of fans.
Davis trade rumors swirl amid rebuilding reality
The biggest question regarding Davis at this point is not about when he will return from his calf strain but whether the organization will consider exploring the trade market for the 32-year-old big man. It’s a path that several executives and scouts from other franchises believe would be logical for the Mavs as Dallas pivots to prioritize building around Flagg.
Several league sources were adamant that gauging the market over the upcoming months is due diligence that Dallas must undertake, as it’s become clear that Harrison’s hopes of a three- to four-year window of contention won’t come to fruition. The Mavericks must now navigate an uncertain future without their franchise cornerstone, hoping somehow that Flagg develops quickly enough to salvage this disaster.