An unfortunate injury to Kyrie Irving could completely change the outlook for the Dallas Mavericks heading into the offseason.
It's almost as if nothing has gone right for the Dallas Mavericks since making an unlikely run to the NBA Finals last season. From the uninspiring move for Klay Thompson to the injury bug this season to the trade of Luka Doncic, the Mavs have had a season to forget - and it just got a whole lot worse. Kyrie Irving is slated to miss the remainder of the season after tearing his ACL Monday night. The timing of the injury not only sidelines him for the rest of this year but also brings a ton of doubt about his availability next season.
In many respects, the injury to Kyrie is one that could end up changing the trajectory of this franchise heading into the offseason. With Kyrie expected to miss a good chunk of next season, you can't help but wonder if it could open the door to a potential trade of Anthony Davis. There's an argument that could be made that without Kyrie next season, it would make little sense to keep AD on the roster - especially considering he has just two years remaining on his contract after this season.
The Dallas Mavericks should trade Anthony Davis
Unless the Mavs have this master plan to acquire another star player during the summer, which will likely be extremely difficult for them to do with the limited assets they have, I'm not sure why Dallas would embrace a "red-shirt" year next season. That's essentially what next season would be for the Mavs if they entered with a core group of Klay, AD, and Dereck Lively II. Good players, but at this point in their careers, that's not a core that can take you very far in the Western Conference.
At this point, the Mavs must admit that the trade of Luka pretty much blew up in their faces. There's no denying that anymore. Dallas took a huge gamble, and it didn't work out. Now, it's up to the front office to figure out how to pick up the pieces. One easy way to do so would be to clean house. That would almost certainly begin with trading AD.
For all the Mavs didn't get in return via a Luka trade, Dallas could reverse much of that by making AD available heading into the offseason. He may not end up demanding the return that Luka would've, but if Dallas wanted to use this opportunity to completely rebuild their roster, this could be a way to do so.
Easily, the Mavs could probably get back 2-3 first-round picks, if not more, in a potential trade of AD. But, again, considering how much this front office has refused to be wrong before, I'm not sure how likely that scenario is to play out over the next few months.
The Mavs should probably think long and hard about what this Kyrie injury truly means for their franchise moving forward. I don't believe it's that big of a stretch to assume that it could lead to a bigger move (trading AD) this offseason.