*** Official 2025 - 2026 Dallas Mavericks Season Thread ***

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M.C. Swag
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In reply to South Platte • 2:20p, 1/15/26
AG
I don't want this to become a Luka thread but the Mavs built a perfect solar system around Luka that would have been Finals contenders for 3 straight seasons and then Nico traded the Sun.

Luka isn't perfect but he is has the most irreplaceable skill set in the league (a 1 man offensive engine). The current Mavs lead the league in clutch games I believe and they've lost almost all of them. That's a credit to Kidd for getting the roster to play hard but it's also exhibit A of Luka's value. If you get a Luka led team into clutch time, you win. Because defense is mostly effort and in the last 5 min, he'll give max effort AND tableset the offense better than anyone. The Mavs have a complete roster of "plus" defenders but no one to tableset. So they always lose. Because effort alone only gets you so far.
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500,000ags
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2:30p, 1/15/26
AG
Bewildering to me that you can see a player that puts up those numbers and gets a team to the finals, while injured, and say maybe you build around Austin Reeves. Wtf. You add a rim protector who can score 15 pts efficiently, 2 3&D guys, and you go, pure and simple. In all fairness, we would get glimpses of Luka trying on D and those moments were glorious, but still, the conversation is insane to me.
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Vessel
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2:31p, 1/15/26
This is unbelievable.

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Tksymm7
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In reply to M.C. Swag • 3:03p, 1/15/26
AG
You're not wrong, and again the Cardinal sin of it all was getting a half-broken, over 30 superstar, Max Christie (really good player tbh, no offense Max), and a 2029 unprotected pick from the Lakers. And hey, the Lakers might be dog crap come 2029, because I don't think they know what they are doing whatsoever, but only that pick and no Austin Reeves is beyond hard to figure out.

Where I disagree some is that you can compensate some for his lack of defensive skill, effort and ability. Sure, in the regular season you can get away with it a bit by surrounding him with plus defending, length and shooting. Those guys playing a different team every single night will more times than not pick him up. In the playoffs is where things fall apart in my opinion. When you have to play the same team three, four, five, six and seven times in a row, that team and their coaching staff in today's era of basketball are going to attack him like white on rice over and over and over again.

Offensive ratings are through the roof across the league and athleticism is as high as its ever been, and I find it hard to believe that with the way the West looks with OKC, San Antonio, Houston, Denver, Minnesota and heck even Phoenix, that Luka wouldn't be taken out back and abused game after game even if he was still on the Mavs surrounded by the guys he was.
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mavsfan4ever
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In reply to Tksymm7 • 4:14p, 1/15/26
AG
So you think that the offensive games of all teams have gotten so much better in 2 years that the Mavs couldn't make the Finals with Luka now? We literally had the 4-5th ranked D in the league after the trades the year we made the finals. That was with Luka. And our D was fine in the playoffs during the Finals run (and it was offense that struggled mightily against Boston, our defense wasn't bad). No one was able to take Luka to the woodshed and beat us becuase of that.

I complained about his defense/effort (mainly his effort all the time). But let's please not start acting like we needed to get rid of him and the only thing bad about the trade was that we didn't get enough back. That's insane.

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M.C. Swag
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In reply to mavsfan4ever • 4:19p, 1/15/26
AG
Exactly. And we beat the Thunder (the best team in the west) in a 6 game series without home court advantage. Like it was already proven that a team with Luka+3 rangy defenders can compete with anyone. It was just bad luck they ran into the Celtics, who by all metrics were like a top 5 team ever.
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PatAg
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In reply to South Platte • 7:38p, 1/15/26
AG
South Platte said:
Luka and defense.

What are some NBA champions whose best player was bad on defense? Magic? Curry? It's a pretty short list I'm sure.

the ****ing 2011 mavericks
when you have a player who is ELITE in scoring and other areas on offense, you build your team to play to their strengths and mitigate their weaknesses
Which we did for Dirk, and we did for Luka

Lot of idiots essentially making up stats no one has ever tracked or cared about
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94chem
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11:56p, 1/15/26
10 players played between 22 and 29 minutes in tonight's victory over Utah.
94chem,
That, sir, was the greatest post in the history of TexAgs. I salute you. -- Dough
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Vessel
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7:54a, 1/16/26
Cisse looks like he can be a nice backup big. Athletic freak and sprints up and down the court.
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94chem
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In reply to PatAg • 8:40a, 1/16/26
PatAg said:
South Platte said:
Luka and defense.

What are some NBA champions whose best player was bad on defense? Magic? Curry? It's a pretty short list I'm sure.

the ****ing 2011 mavericks
when you have a player who is ELITE in scoring and other areas on offense, you build your team to play to their strengths and mitigate their weaknesses
Which we did for Dirk, and we did for Luka

Lot of idiots essentially making up stats no one has ever tracked or cared about


Measuring a top 10 all time scorer by defense is about as useful as Tom Brady's 40 time.
94chem,
That, sir, was the greatest post in the history of TexAgs. I salute you. -- Dough
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Tksymm7
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9:19a, 1/16/26
AG
Utah is really, really...really bad.
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zgolfz85
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9:21a, 1/16/26
AG
quit winning!
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Vessel
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In reply to Tksymm7 • 9:54a, 1/16/26
Tksymm7 said:
Utah is really, really...really bad.


They have sat Markanen for "illness" over the past couple games. That's an organization that understands how to tank.

They are basically useless on offense without him. It's just George trying to carry them by himself.
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Guitarsoup
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In reply to Vessel • 11:51a, 1/16/26
AG
Vessel said:
Tksymm7 said:
Utah is really, really...really bad.


They have sat Markanen for "illness" over the past couple games. That's an organization that understands how to tank.

They are basically useless on offense without him. It's just George trying to carry them by himself.


If their draft pick isn't top 8 if they lose it to Oklahoma City.

They have no choice but to tank
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AggieEP
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In reply to 94chem • 3:11p, 1/16/26
94chem said:
PatAg said:
South Platte said:
Luka and defense.

What are some NBA champions whose best player was bad on defense? Magic? Curry? It's a pretty short list I'm sure.

the ****ing 2011 mavericks
when you have a player who is ELITE in scoring and other areas on offense, you build your team to play to their strengths and mitigate their weaknesses
Which we did for Dirk, and we did for Luka

Lot of idiots essentially making up stats no one has ever tracked or cared about


Measuring a top 10 all time scorer by defense is about as useful as Tom Brady's 40 time.


Except Tom Brady can win the Super Bowl without ever running. To win a championship Luka HAS to play half the game on defense.

If Luka wants to win he has to learn to at a bare minimum give some effort on defense. He can't be a total sieve.
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M.C. Swag
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In reply to AggieEP • 3:25p, 1/16/26
AG
We'll never know but I honestly believe the healthy roster with Luka would have won last year. Seeing the Pacers, a bad defensive team, take the Thunder to 7 games was insane. Luka+Kyrie+Klay/Naji+PJ+Lively/Gafford would have been the defending champs imo.
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DannyDuberstein
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3:51p, 1/16/26
AG
Luka would not give you 40 minutes of good defense, but he could ramp it up when he wanted. He's also smart and has good hands defensively. He's 9th in steals per game. Sometimes you might be able to chalk it up to lazy defense that then pays off with a steal, but however it happens, he can contribute. And you don't need 5 guys on the floor that can play lockdown defense.

I don't know why this is a debate when they were one of the best defensive teams in the league in that Finals run. And they had OKC's number. Agree that they had a legit title chance last year before dynamiting it all
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mavsfan4ever
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In reply to M.C. Swag • 5:08p, 1/16/26
AG
M.C. Swag said:
We'll never know but I honestly believe the healthy roster with Luka would have won last year. Seeing the Pacers, a bad defensive team, take the Thunder to 7 games was insane. Luka+Kyrie+Klay/Naji+PJ+Lively/Gafford would have been the defending champs imo.


Yep. I think we would have (or at least would have had a great shot, which is all you can ask). Adding naji to our finals roster would have been huge (and less so with klay).
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dave94
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In reply to mavsfan4ever • 10:16p, 1/16/26
AG
mavsfan4ever said:
M.C. Swag said:
We'll never know but I honestly believe the healthy roster with Luka would have won last year. Seeing the Pacers, a bad defensive team, take the Thunder to 7 games was insane. Luka+Kyrie+Klay/Naji+PJ+Lively/Gafford would have been the defending champs imo.


Yep. I think we would have (or at least would have had a great shot, which is all you can ask). Adding naji to our finals roster would have been huge (and less so with klay).


And with Grimes still on the roster? They had a legit shot
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Guitarsoup
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10:40a, 1/17/26
AG


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zgolfz85
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6:56p, 1/17/26
AG
Utah…so gross
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Tksymm7
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In reply to zgolfz85 • 6:58p, 1/17/26
AG
They are stunningly awful. It always shocks me how bad some of these team are.
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