The bad news came yesterday. During the game against the Kings, Kyrie Irving picked up a knee injury, and the prognosis was hardly optimistic. The verdict was clear: a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. His season is over, as is no doubt that of the Dallas Mavericks.
The injury was undoubtedly the final nail in the coffin of the management - and in particular of the man who has become the most hated man in Dallas, General Manager Nico Harrison. Reigning finalists, the Mavs are now in serious danger of missing out on the playoffs this season.
In the wake of this, the always well-informed Shams Charania dropped a piece of news that was anything but a surprise: there's a good chance we won't see Anthony Davis back on the pitch this season.
The main counterpart to the nuclear-explosion trade that sent Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, the inside man made his debut against the Rockets, showing a real desire to show the Angelinos that they had been wrong... before injuring himself. Again, no surprise there, as AD is one of the most injury-prone players in the entire NBA.
Since then, he hasn't been seen, no return date has been announced, and with Irving injured, there's clearly no point in rushing his return.
On paper, the record since the trade is nothing to be ashamed of. Six wins in 13 games, and we've seen teams do worse (hello Suns).
But we're talking about the Mavericks, the reigning finalists, a team that stunned the entire West in the playoffs nine months ago, a team that was frightening because of its ability to raise its game in the post-season, regardless of how the regular season went. That's unlikely to be the case this season, because to be scary in the playoffs, you have to get there first.
In the space of a month, the Mavs have gone from "title contenders" to "the season is over in March". And no matter how hard we look, a month later we can't understand how the Luka Doncic trade could have happened. Even if we wanted to play devil's advocate, it would probably be impossible.
Dallas lost in the NBA Finals in June. For a team that is very close to the title, the ultimate goal, logic dictates making one last move, one last trade to consolidate the foundations of the roster and get past this final hurdle. One last risk, and the Mavs took it this summer in free agency, signing Klay Thompson for three years.
You can say what you like about the former Warrior's level, but the fact remains that he is an experienced player, a four-time NBA champion and above all a specialist in hot moments, as he has proved time and time again in his career. The perfect profile on paper to give one last push towards the ring.
And since the Slovenian was injured at the end of December, we had yet to see the full potential of this starting five of Kyrie Irving - Luka Doncic - Klay Thompson - PJ Washington - Daniel Gafford (who has since been injured as well).
Even if we try to understand the grievances mentioned by Nico Harrison when he was trying to justify the unjustifiable, we can't see any sense in having made the effort to get "Killa Klay" back this summer only to fail to give him even one playoff campaign with Doncic.
Superstar transfers in the NBA (not to mention free agency) are very rare. Especially when those superstars are in their prime. It can happen when the player and/or the franchise no longer get along, and if they do, it's often because the results aren't up to expectations.
A case in point is the Carmelo Anthony trade from 2017, which saw Anthony take Madison Square Garden by storm, play at a high level for a while and make a lasting impression, but without any collective results (one playoff series won in seven seasons).
But in this case, the results were there for the Mavericks. A conference final in 2022, an NBA final in 2024: what team in the West has reached two conference finals in three seasons? Over the last ten years, only the Golden State Warriors - the best team of the 2010s - have managed that feat.
So yes, the title didn't come down to the wire, but the team had climbed the steps one by one, and the last one is always the hardest to climb.
This brings up another point: transferring Doncic means destroying a team that was built for Doncic.
The Slovenian has one of the highest usage rates in the NBA. We're going to get Kyrie Irving, one of the best off-ball players in the league, to be his perfect complement. Lacking a reliable partner to play inside? Let's get Daniel Gafford, a luxury pick-and-roll. Lacking variety in attack? Say hello to PJ Washington, who can play 3, 4 or even 5 in small ball. Do we want to complete the starting five and improve our spacing? Enter Klay Thompson.
All the members of the starting five arrived after Luka Doncic, and worse, were recruited to be complementary to the Slovenian. Removing the starting piece is almost certain to be an industrial accident.
Of course, one could argue that injuries are unlucky - which is often the case - and not the fault of the management, but what is, on the other hand, is betting everything on two players over 30, known for being "injury prone".
And when things go wrong on the pitch, they go wrong off it too. The Mavs are in a very turbulent patch. The franchise has been getting nothing but negative press since the trade, notably by throwing out a fan who was chanting for Nico Harrison's head, but above all by raising ticket prices by 8% at the start of the week (yes, this information is true). A monstrous cheek, we must admit.
So the 'win-now' that the General Manager was so keen to see is over. What about the medium and long term? Irving's injury is serious enough to cut short part of his upcoming season. Anthony Davis' physical problems (he turns 32 next week) are unlikely to diminish. The squad still has some quality pieces, but without a captain at the helm, how can they possibly move forward?
Dallas were the X factor in the Western playoffs. Even without a top-four finish, the memory of the last post-season was enough to make them a dangerous opponent for anyone. But now, it's only taken a month to turn them into a team that's going to start looking at prospects for the next draft. The downfall is absolutely staggering, one of the biggest in recent NBA history.
We won't give credence to theories that all this is just a desire to orchestrate the franchise's decline so that the new owners can move it to Las Vegas, but we can easily understand those who are doing it.
In these ultra-competitive times, to wipe out a seven-year-old project in the space of a month commands admiration. But not the kind of admiration you can be proud of. It remains to be seen where (and if) the fall will end...
