The Dallas Mavericks’ season ended in dismal fashion. After taking fourth place until the trade deadline, the team plummeted and is out of the playoffs.
Such planning mistakes could see star Luka Doncic ask the Mavs for a trade. According to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, the team fears this will happen.
“Team sources have confirmed to ESPN that Luka Doncic is feared to trade to the Mavs,” MacMahon said.
“He has publicly and privately expressed extreme frustration during the season. So he could consider ordering by the 2024 offseason if Dallas doesn’t see great progress by then.” he added.
Doncic hasn’t asked for a deal yet, but the feeling that something might happen has been growing in recent weeks.
At least, according to recent rumors, the Slovenian would be quite upset by the way the management conducted the 2022/23 season.
Doncic also didn’t like playing for just 13 minutes in the loss to the Chicago Bulls last Friday. The team had chances of qualifying for the play-in, but chose not to compete and stay out of the playoffs.
The coaching staff, backed by management, rested five players against the Bulls. As a result, the NBA will now investigate the Mavericks action on Friday night.
According to journalist Chris Cwik of Yahoo Sports, the league wants to understand the facts and circumstances that occurred for the tank.
However, the NBA Commissioner Adam Silver warned teams that were making the tank that there would be punishment.
Earlier in the season, he reported that the league would take more serious action against teams that lost by design. At the time, even an eventual relegation was considered.
“We gave the teams a warning. So we’ll pay more attention to the problem during the season.” Silver said in October.
