The Dallas Mavericks have one offseason to sell Luka Doncic on the future

There’s reason to believe that the Dallas Mavericks only have one offseason to sell Luka Doncic on the future of the team.

It’s been an up-and-down season for the Dallas Mavericks. The unfortunate part is that it’s been a bit more down than up. And it seems that the Mavs’ low points are going to end up getting the best of their season. Heading into the final week of the regular season, with only three games left, the Mavs are sitting in 11th in the West standings and are one game back of the 10th-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder.

But that’s not even the worst part for the Mavs. From many accounts, many viewed this year as a gap year for the team. After losing Jalen Brunson last offseason, it wasn’t fair to expect the Mavs to retool on the fly. However, heading into this offseason, there is a level of expectation that will come for Dallas and this front office will be under some pressure.

Unless the Mavs are planning to re-sign Kyrie Irving, which at this point would seem like stacking one big mistake on top of another simply to save face, Dallas needs to make a major improvement to the roster.

Look, I understand the Mavs would take a huge PR L if they failed to re-sign Kyrie this summer. After all, the team traded two quality players and an unprotected future first-round pick for his services at the NBA Trade Deadline. On the other hand, the team has been bad since his arrival from Brooklyn.

When Kyrie plays, the Mavs are just 7-12. Overall since the acquisition of Kyrie at the NBA Trade Deadline, the Mavs are 7-16. In short, it hasn’t worked.

If you want to argue that it’s not all on Kyrie, that’s fine. I’d accept that argument. A team’s failures are rarely on one player. However, for a player as talented as Kyrie is, I’d argue that his impact on the team should be greater than it has been since the trade deadline, which has been pretty much non-existent.

Can you imagine what would happen if the Mavs did nothing but re-sign Kyrie during the offseason and it results in another lost season in which the Mavs are a fringe playoff team in the Western Conference once again?

It would not go over well with the fan base and certainly not with Luka, which is the main point. And that’s the biggest reason why I believe the Mavs have to sell Luka this offseason on the team’s direction and future.

Kyrie move aside, there aren’t many encouraging moves that the Mavs have made that is a serious attempt to surround Luka with a strong, championship-worthy supporting cast. And the move for Kyrie has been an absolute disaster.

If the Mavs want to ensure that Luka remains happy with the direction of the team, there has to be a significant change to the roster this offseason. And if it doesn’t happen and the Mavs are once again a disappointment next season, don’t be surprised if Luka begins to make things interesting for the organization. And I’m not sure that’s what the front office wants.