Luka Doncic, whose Mavs are 7th in the West: "I don't understand the idea of the play-in [tournament]. You play 72 games to get in the playoffs, then maybe you lose two in a row and you're out of the playoffs. I don't see the point of that."

Source: Tim MacMahon of ESPN (Twitter)

ANALYSIS: The Mavericks currently hold the 7th seed in the Western Conference standings, which would put them in the play-in tournament scheduled to take place a week before the playoffs start. The NBA introduced the play-in tournament last year in the bubble, but limited it to just the 8th and 9th seeded teams. Now with the play-in tournament expanded to include the 7th-10th seeded teams, the stakes are even higher for teams to try and crack the top six in the conference to avoid the play-in.