The case can be made that the most disappointing team in the NBA this season was the Dallas Mavericks. After making it to the Western Conference Finals last postseason, Dallas ended up missing out on the playoffs altogether this year, as the team’s fate was sealed on Friday night with a 115-112 loss to the Chicago Bulls that officially eliminated them from play-in contention with a 38-43 record.
A number of important players did not play for the Mavs on Friday, while Luka Doncic played the first quarter and the opening possession of the second before getting shut down. There was a method to the madness — the team’s pick in the 2023 NBA Draft is top-10 protected, and missing the play-in means the overwhelming likelihood is they get the 10th pick in June — but the mere fact that the season even got to that point is shocking, especially considering the high-profile the team made when it was 28-26 to acquire Kyrie Irving.
And now, rumors are beginning to pop up about Doncic’s long-term future in Dallas. Despite being in the first year of a 5-year contract extension, Tim MacMahon of ESPN reports that there are real worries among the Mavericks that their MVP candidate could want out as soon as next summer if things do not start getting better.
There’s a strong sense of urgency within the organization to expedite the process before Doncic loses faith in the Mavs’ ability to build a contender around him. He’s wrapping up the first season of a five-year, $215 million supermax contract with a player option for the final season.
Team sources have acknowledged to ESPN that fear exists that Doncic, who publicly and privately expressed extreme frustration this season, could consider requesting a trade as soon as the summer of 2024 if Dallas doesn’t make significant progress by then.
Doncic is currently under contract through 2026-27, although the final year on his deal includes a player option. As MacMahon noted, Doncic previously summed up this year as “a very disappointing season.”