Luka Dealt to Lakers: Nico Harrison is a Basketball Terrorist

[palindromotto]

I am a long time guest reader on this board (and the old Mike Fisher board, I started reading the blog something around 2006/2007, good times...). Followed the Mavs for years, cherished the championship 2011, was equally depressed after they did not bring back the core team to try again 2012. Then suffered through the next ten years of mediocrity, until they drafted Doncic. With Doncic as the franchise player, the team made the Western Conference in 2022, and the NBA finals last year. In my eyes, this puts to rest any discussion about whether he was worth the supermax extension. If you compare the success the Mavs team had with Doncic to almost any other NBA franchise and the salary they pay their top player, he was worth every penny (sure, not my money, but in terms of return on investment I think this is clear). As a fan, I want to have players I can root for, and Doncic was a player who could fill the role that Nowitzki had previously - of course very different persons and style, but they were drafted (or should say they started playing as a rookie) in Dallas, and developed into the franchise player here. For me, with the trade of Doncic, the link to the previous era is gone, out of the window went a tradition of sticking with your franchise player no matter what, which ran at least from 1998. This feels a bit like a TV series in which they kick out the main character in mid season, which to me seems a suicidal move in regard to fan adherence. But what tops it out is that while AD is a great player, I think it is clear that he can’t replace Doncic, and there won’t be any chance of another NBA finals run in the next 2-3 years, before the window for AD and KI closes (if that long). So in the end, this is a rebuild move, but without getting the assets necessary and possible for a rebuild in the near future. Thus, I think the management has deliberately set the franchise up for the next ten years (or more) of mediocrity. While I have no problem with not following the Mavs with its current management and owners, I hope this message board will stay in one form or the other. I learned a lot about basketball and the NBA here, and really enjoyed reading the thoughtful comments and interesting discussions. For now, so long and thanks for all the fish…