mavsfan4ever said:

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I'm with MW03. I wouldn't be so upset if we traded KP and it was for different players or cap space, etc that made sense. But this is just a head scratcher.

Maybe Luka truly hated KP and we had to trade him. That's the only thing that makes sense.

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mavsfan4ever said:

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I watch or attend every game. KP was playing great for a sissy. And Luka has only played 6 more games than KP this year.

They seemed to have a great relationship in the bubble. Maybe something happened after that who knows. But it's not like they made it obvious on the court that they hated each other. Plus even if Luka hated him, surely we could do better than dinwiddie/Bertans.

On the bright side, the Hang Zone will get to have some great interviews with Dinwiddie about crypto.

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MW03 said:

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Since they didn't move Dinwiddie, you have to think this means that they may not land Dragic. That's the biggest kick in the nuts to all of this.

Went from charging into home court, Bubble KP returning, and possibly adding Dragic on a min deal for a playoff run and vet leadership

to . . .

Flexibility in the future.

And burning another year of Luka in the process.

I don't mind trading KP, btw. I mind trading KP for another guard and what it means for Dragic, Brunson's future, etc.

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jeffdjohnson said:

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That Bertans contract is horrible. Terrible trade. I'm not really going to miss KP, he was basically an always injured but very good role player. But this does nothing for the Mavs cap flexibility. Frankly makes it worse. There is nothing wrong with Dinwiddie in a 6th man role and Bertans in a specialty bench role. But you just can't pay those 2 dudes 30M for that job. I would rather take my chances with KPs health and wait until he is expiring for a big move.

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COAg15 said:

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I doubt anyone is upset that the Mavs ripped the bandaid off of the KP/Luka expirement. I'm really surprised at the quality/contracts we got in return. I think we could've done better.

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mavsfan4ever said:

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I watch or attend every game. KP was playing great for a sissy. And Luka has only played 6 more games than KP this year.

They seemed to have a great relationship in the bubble. Maybe something happened after that who knows. But it's not like they made it obvious on the court that they hated each other. Plus even if Luka hated him, surely we could do better than dinwiddie/Bertans.

On the bright side, the Hang Zone will get to have some great interviews with Dinwiddie about crypto.

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Ervin Burrell said:

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Ol Jock 99 said:

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It allows moves during the offseason. KP HAD to get off the books if he couldn't stay healthy (and he couldn't).

These guys can't have worse production than KP and will be easier to kick if they don't work out.

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Huh?

KP's #'s: 19 PPG and 8 boards
Dinwiddie and Bertains COMBINED: 18 PPG and 6 boards
Dinwidde shoots 37%, Bertans 35%, KP 45%

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Quote:

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The Mavericks, in the immediate term, got worse this afternoon.

This is one way of viewing the trade deadline deal that shipped Kristaps Porzingis (plus a second-round pick) to Washington for Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans. Dallas bet big on the Latvian big man as Luka Doncic's long-term co-star. Having to include a draft pick just to shuffle him off in exchange for another team's free-agent mistakes is a concession that this bet has definitively gone bust.

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Quote:

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Nevertheless, over the next 48 hours, you will read and listen to plenty of takes speculating on what Dinwiddie and Bertans can add to this roster. The former is a longstanding Mark Cuban crush who can be the tertiary ball handler this team has sorely lacked; he's also an insurance policy should Dallas fail to re-sign Jalen Brunson in free agency this summer.

The latter could be a reclamation project in the vein of pre-2022 Tim Hardaway Jr., a career 40 percent three-point shooter who got his money on the strength of back-to-back seasons shooting at a 42-percent clip from deep. Stick him in the corners, have Doncic thread those passes that so often generate open looks, and maybe that number ticks back up in a way that makes him the shooting threat a team that ranks 24th leaguewide in three-point percentage sorely needs.

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Quote:

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All of those opinions are valid, but none of them are the point. If the organization's best-laid plans come to fruition this offseason, Dallas will re-sign Brunson and fellow free agent Dorian Finney-Smith to long-term deals at numbers that, prior to the Porzingis deal, would almost certainly push the team past the NBA's luxury tax threshold and effectively lock them into a core of five players: Doncic, Porzingis, Brunson, Finney-Smith, and Hardaway Jr.

We have three years of data about what this group is, and while the conditions have fluctuated -- the head coach has changed, Brunson improved as Hardaway Jr. regressed, an excellent offensive team has become an excellent defensive one -- the endgame hasn't. The output simply isn't good enough to contend for a championship.

Consider today a strategic retreat, then, an admission that four more years of reshuffling deck chairs will never bring the team to the only acceptable outcome when a generational talent like Doncic is on their books. This is the correct assessment. Nothing precluded them from striking out in the same direction after re-signing Brunson and Finney-Smith, of course, but the options narrow considerably when a damaged asset like Porzingis is collecting upward of $30 million annually$31.7 million this season, $33.8 next season, and a player option he'll almost certainly pick up in 2023-2024 worth $36 million and changeversus two players taking home millions in the teens.

There is a caveat, however. This only works if the Mavericks' front office makes it work, if their next moves are their best moves.

. . .

But now they must deliver, and quickly. There is no mandate that this pays dividends immediately, but it has to before Doncic gets antsy. That's always been the mandate, and now Nico Harrison and co. must demonstrate that a short-term step backward in talent on a roster hardly overflowing with it is the correct play to import gobs more of it before it's too late.

If they're right, Porzingis will one day become a pleasant footnote, his name a curio hardcore fans bandy about like LaFrentz's when they recount the move before the move before the move that brought in a key piece of the first Doncic championship team much like LaFrentz, himself an enigmatic shooting center, eventually begat key pieces on Dirk Nowitzki's.

If they're wrong, Luka Doncic ends his 20s wearing another team's uniform.

Those are the stakes, and this deadline is proof that the Mavericks believe in themselves as much as ever to meet them. Now begins the long, winding path to see if they're right.

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Grapesoda2525 said:

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Dragic likely coming to the mavs?

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HawthornAggie said:

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What a few of you have already pointed out. Trade one awful contract for two awful contracts and still surround Luka with nothing.

https://deadspin.com/the-mavericks-are-a-mess-1848526060

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zgolfz85 said:

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HawthornAggie said:

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What a few of you have already pointed out. Trade one awful contract for two awful contracts and still surround Luka with nothing.

https://deadspin.com/the-mavericks-are-a-mess-1848526060

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A bit too dramatic IMO. We didn't have a better option and it was rolling the dice to keep him and hope he could magically stay healthy for extended periods all of a sudden. If KP would've had another major injury, we'd have been even more screwed. It's not like anyone is out there saying Washington won this deal, which tells you all you need to know. The Luka points in the article I mostly agree with, but also think that not much has changed there. We were going to have to be creative either way. I'd like to know what the author honestly suggests as a better plan. It's sucks, but the KP deal was a lose/lose no matter how you slice it up.

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