08-22-2025, 06:07 AM
(08-21-2025, 09:24 AM)mvossman Wrote: I guess there is a scenario where AD and Kyrie play well but the Mavs don't make the playoffs, Nico gets fired and they decide to rebuild around younger players. ...
Injuries are the wild card for everyone and somewhat more so for teams relying on injury prone and older players but to some extent that's for everyone. We've seen plenty of teams lose contending or even winning seasons even with young stars going down. Even OKC had to patiently build while waiting for Chet to come back healthy. Indiana and Boston have to build around their young injured stars while likely losing a season or two of contention.
This is teams is more likely a playoff team that will still have tradable players while they work their 2 to 3 year window.
The Mavs had to assess the injury risk for vets AD, Kyrie, Klay in particular and factor that in compared to any realistic alternative routes they had.
I see at least a solid chance that the Mavericks have a relatively healthy season resulting in at least a season of playoff quality squads possibly on the fringe of contention. The talent level on paper is good enough to challenge any contending team IMO the rest depends on not only health but team chemistry.