NBA Legend Predicts Mavericks Downfall

After reaching the Western Conference Finals in 2022, Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks looked to be on the rise as a future championship-contending team. To capitalize on this momentum and push towards an NBA championship, Dallas decided to trade for star guard Kyrie Irving. Unfortunately, the star backcourt had chemistry issues right off the bat, and the Mavericks actually ended up regressing, missing the playoffs altogether.

With that being said, the duo only played a handful of games together and hasn't yet been given a full chance to prove what they're capable of. For this reason, the Mavs decided to double down on this experiment and signed Kyrie to an extension worth $126 million. Contrary to Dallas' beliefs, one NBA legend has predicted that the Mavericks will not significantly improve and instead repeat last season's disappointment.

Kyrie is signing a three-year, $126M extension with the Mavs, per @ShamsCharania pic.twitter.com/NK2IxGuUIm— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 30, 2023

NBA Legend Speaks Out


The NBA legend in question is former All-Star Gilbert Arenas, who spent 11 seasons in the league playing for the Warriors, Wizards, Magic, and Grizzlies. Much like many retired athletes, Arenas now hosts his own podcast named "Gil's Arena," and in one of his latest episodes, he spoke about the Mavericks ahead of the upcoming season.


https://www.youtube.com/live/Jtnqv64dccY?si=Jg-nDahyPCqrTok8

Dallas has been a common talking point of late, especially after their poor form in a thus far winless preseason with a 2-game sweep by the Timberwolves and a loss to Doncic's former EuroLeague team, Real Madrid. Many fans are jumping onto the opinion that the Mavericks will not be a playoff team this year. Furthermore, some NBA insiders have reported that Doncic will ask for a trade if they struggle again.



New Look Mavericks

The Mavericks' weak points last season were defense, where they ranked among the bottom third of the league, and rebounding, where they ranked dead last. The offseason acquisitions of Richaun Holmes and Grant Williams look to improve in that regard. Their remaining additions, excluding Seth Curry, appear to be insignificant in terms of immediate winning.

They signed three rookies as well as former NBA player Dante Exum, who has spent the last two seasons in Europe. It is likely that most of the roster will be used as 3-and-D players, as both Kyrie and Doncic are ball-dominant players. Last season, they averaged 26.9 and 32.4 points per game, respectively, and will probably control most of the possessions this year.


For the Mavericks, hopefully, these changes will be enough, but it's still a very tough task to challenge for the automatic playoff positions this year. The West currently looks very deep with the reigning champions, the Nuggets, the new Phoenix Big 3, as well as the improved Lakers roster, which just came off a Western Conference Finals appearance.

It looks like the best-case scenario for the Mavericks this year is to reach the play-in tournament and hopefully win that. Sportsbooks currently have Dallas at 43.5 wins on the over-under, which is ranked 11th in the Western Conference.

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TheSmokingCuban