Luka Doncic’s summer break has been eventful, albeit short. He
signed a $207 million extension with the Dallas Mavericks and
nearly led the Slovenian national team to an Olympic medal in
Tokyo. But Doncic isn’t one to rest on his laurels.
“I had two weeks off and I’m back to practicing,” Doncic
recently told Marc Stein of The Stein
Line in an interview.
Those close to the Mavericks organization have a right to be
worried, as the COVID-19 pandemic led to a shortened offseason, too
— meaning that Doncic will have experienced two consecutive
offseasons with less rest than he would traditionally receive. And
most experts agree that health and rest go hand-in-hand.
While no one would question Doncic for taking a longer break,
his obsession with improvement is what sets him apart. Doncic was
brilliant for the Mavericks in the postseason, but it ended
similarly to the prior year — with a first-round loss to the Los
Angeles Clippers.
The 22-year-old’s career has been incredible so far. Doncic
boasts an average of 25.7 points, 8.4 rebounds and 7.7 assists per
game across three seasons. He’s also been named to two All-Star
games and two All-NBA teams. But if he’s going to accomplish all of
his goals, there is still work he has to do.
“Every time there’s a new season, I’m excited,” Doncic said. “Every time it’s
the same goal and that’s what we’re going to try to do about this
year: Win a championship. I think that should be everybody’s goal
and I’m just hoping it happens one day.”
While all great players want championships, success is
predicated on more than just a superstar’s output. Front offices’
impact outcomes nearly as much as superstars’ efforts, and
unfortunately for Doncic, Dallas had a subpar 2021 offseason.
(Basketball News’ Jackson Frank went as far as to say Dallas had the worst one of all NBA
teams.)
Dallas added Reggie Bullock, Moses Brown and Sterling Brown,
while sending out Josh Richardson via trade. Nothing against those
three players, but simply put: the team, and Doncic, needed
more.
The Mavericks did shake up their front office and coaching
staff, though. Dallas replaced general manager Donnie Nelson and
head coach Rick Carlisle with Nico Harrison and Jason Kidd at those
positions, respectively.
Harrison, a former Nike executive, is entering his first stint
with an NBA team, meaning the rookie executive made a fan of owner
Mark Cuban without any relevant experience. During his time at
Nike, Harrison built strong relationships with several NBA players,
including Doncic, which likely led to his hiring.
Kidd is more of a known commodity, with stops in Brooklyn and
Milwaukee. Most recently, Kidd was on the Los Angeles Lakers staff
as an assistant coach. Kidd still has supporters in Dallas, but his
track record as a head coach is questionable at best, especially
since news broke this past April about
his now-infamous Christmas practice with the Bucks. (This goes
without mentioning Kidd's off-the-court concerns too.)
Considering the Mavericks’ lack of additions, it’s clear that
Doncic will have to do more to propel them deeper into the
playoffs. But what more can he do? Doncic has averaged 33.5 points,
9.5 assists and 8.8 rebounds per game while shooting 39.2% on
three-point attempts (compared to 33.1% in his regular-season
career) through 13 games. He's literally been the focal point of
the Los Angeles Clippers’ defensive strategy in each of the past
two postseasons, yet has still flourished.
But the rest of the Mavericks’ roster
hasn’t. Tim Hardaway Jr. broke the 20-point mark in four of the
seven games against the Clippers in 2021, averaging 17.0 points in
the series. But is Hardaway really a championship contender’s
second-best option?
And even more importantly, beyond Hardaway (and obviously
Doncic), the Mavericks got only one 20-point game out of their
supporting cast in the 2021 playoffs. Kristaps Porzingis scored
exactly 20 points in the Mavericks’ Game 2 win. Not to place the
brunt of the blame on Porzingis, but he did only average a mere
13.1 points per game this past postseason while on a $158 million
contract.
Still, Doncic enters his fourth NBA season as the favorite to win the 2021-22 NBA MVP
award, and while his supporting cast looks underwhelming in
September, a lot can happen between now and the 2022 playoffs.
And Doncic is quickly proving himself to be the type of player
you do not want to bet against.