The Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers find themselves in peculiar territory as the season comes to a close. LA is fighting for important playoff seeding, while the Mavs will most likely have to win two games in the Play-In Tournament just to play the Oklahoma City Thunder in the playoffs.
Luka Doncic has been putting up his usual numbers, averaging 30.1 PPG, 8.6 APG, and 8.4 RPG in March, but his shooting splits haven’t been up to his usual standard. Meanwhile, Anthony Davis had been out with an injury for most of the time he had been with the Mavericks since being swapped for Doncic, and struggled since his return last week before putting up 34 points and 15 rebounds on Wednesday night.
Jeff Teague, a former NBA All-Star and now a co-host of the “520 Club” podcast, is rooting for Davis and the Mavericks to do well, while he wants the Slovenian superstar Doncic to struggle.
“I rock with AD… I think AD’s a good player and I hate he got thrown in the bull—-. So I kinda want Luka to fail a little bit. But I want ‘Bron [LeBron James] to win, but I want Luka to fail… I want Luka to play bad and I want ‘Bron to play great, I don’t care if they win or not… but I want it to be so it looks obvious that AD, like, ‘Damn they [Mavericks] probably wouldn’t have won with Luka playing defense like that, we needed AD.’ I hope AD get in the Play-In and go in the Playoffs, AD go crazy averaging like 38 and 15.”
It’s unlikely for Mavericks fans to feel that way, as a lot of them would rather lose with Luka Doncic than potentially win with Anthony Davis, but even if they get out of the Play-In, The Oklahoma City Thunder have been a machine this year. They’re in the running to have the best team net rating in NBA history. Even if the Mavericks beat them three times this season, the Thunder will want that matchup, and Dallas’ guard play with Kyrie Irving out will make it tough to win.
But Teague thinks even making it a competitive series would make it a successful trade.
“If AD get them to the playoffs after being out that long, and they get in the first round and they make it interesting like they win a game or two, that’s a good trade.”
It most certainly wouldn’t be a good trade to lose in the first round, especially since Doncic led the Mavericks to the NBA Finals last season. But a competitive series would have Dallas fans feeling a little better about their chances heading into next season.
