Since Luka Dončić entered the NBA more than six years ago, no player has carried a bigger offensive load for his team than the Dallas Mavericks’ stepback 3-point-shooting, pick-and-roll maestro.
Dončić ranked 11th in usage rate as a rookie, according to Basketball-Reference.com. In the five ensuing seasons, he was either first or second in that category every year.
| Season | Usage rate | Rank |
|---|---|---|
|
2018-19 |
30.5 |
11 |
|
2019-20 |
36.8 |
2 |
|
2020-21 |
36.0 |
1 |
|
2021-22 |
37.4 |
1 |
|
2022-23 |
37.6 |
2 |
|
2023-24 |
36.0 |
1 |
|
2024-25 |
32.9 |
4 |
At the trade deadline in February 2023, the Mavericks added Kyrie Irving, a co-star with whom Dončić could coexist. Last summer, the team solidified its perimeter depth by making moves for Quentin Grimes, Klay Thompson and Naji Marshall. Additionally, Dallas upgraded its frontcourt in separate trades for Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington.
The result is the deepest roster of the Dončić era. The Mavericks were rolling entering their Christmas tilt against the Minnesota Timberwolves, having won 14 of 17 games. Then, in the second quarter of that game, Dončić came up limping. Medical imaging revealed a left calf strain, which is expected to sideline him for a month.
The Mavericks are 1-3 since Christmas. They play 16 games in January. NBA heavyweights like the Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder are part of that schedule. So are the Memphis Grizzlies and Houston Rockets, two teams already ahead of Dallas in the West.
Before this season, any Dončić extended absence meant Dallas was likely to lose. The team had a 31-44 record without him in his first six seasons.
This season, the Mavericks have been able to keep winning without their perennial MVP candidate in the lineup. Even after two straight road losses, Dallas has a 7-4 record sans Dončić. Five of those seven victories have come against teams with winning records.
“That number doesn’t really matter to me,” Irving said. “I’d rather be going into battle with a healthy team, everyone feeling well, everyone feeling good. But, it’s just the nature of the business. You have to be ready.”
Kyrie Irving is putting up big numbers and showing himself as a leader in the fourth quarter for the Mavericks. (Logan Riely / NBAE via Getty Images)
‘Lean on our leader’
In December, Irving crossed the 100-game mark with the Mavericks. His time in Dallas so far has been a success.
Irving helped the Mavericks reach the NBA Finals last summer and has played some of the most efficient basketball of his career this season. Irving is averaging 24.6 points per game on a 61.2 true-shooting percentage, the second-highest mark he has posted in his 14-year career.
Besides being an outrageous shot maker, Irving also is one of the Mavericks’ locker room leaders. On Saturday, Dallas fell behind by 28 points against the Portland Trail Blazers. Without the injured Dončić and Dereck Lively II — and the suspended Washington and Marshall — it would have been easy for the Mavericks to fold on the second night of a back-to-back.
Irving, however, wouldn’t let them. He scored 20 of his 46 points in the fourth quarter. His final basket of the game, a difficult fadeaway from the baseline, cut Portland’s lead to six with 2:25 remaining. Irving’s late-game outburst made the game competitive, though Dallas couldn’t complete the comeback.
“Mr. Fourth Quarter,” Grimes said. “That’s what he does. He’s really amazing to watch.”
Irving said losing in the 2024 finals to his former team, the Celtics, gave him “added motivation” to start this season strong. Irving has played in all but four games so far.
The Mavericks know they must strike a balance between allowing Irving to quarterback the team’s offense while not wearing him down. Dallas needs the 32-year-old fresh for what it hopes can be a deep playoff run in the spring.
“The big picture is always in focus,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. “Just understanding playing Kyrie over 40 minutes, that puts us in a different situation, understanding we have to lean on our leader here to help us. But that doesn’t mean running his minutes up to 40, 42 (a game).”
Irving played a combined 79 minutes in Dallas’ back-to-back in Phoenix and Portland last weekend. On Monday, he sat out with right shoulder soreness.
The Mavericks scored 37 first-quarter points Monday against the Sacramento Kings, but their offense fizzled in the final three quarters in a 110-100 loss. They lost control of the game in the third quarter, committing six turnovers in a stretch that lasted fewer than five minutes.
“They were pressing the ball,” Washington said. “We just started turning the ball over. Obviously, (having) 17 turnovers is hard to win in this league.”
Kyrie Irving and P.J. Washington have helped to shoulder the load in Luka Dončić’s absence. (Joshua Gateley / Getty Images)
‘The linchpin’
The Mavericks play 16 games in January. It’s possible Dončić misses all of them.
“Everyone has to come in and work,” Washington said. “We are professionals for a reason. With or without Luka, we are expected to win.”
Dončić is the Mavericks’ best player. Irving is someone teammates view with awe and admiration. After those two, there is an argument that Washington is the team’s next-most valuable player. The 26-year-old provides interior toughness and floor-stretching ability. He is averaging 2.3 steals and blocks per game while converting 3s at a 39.8 percent rate, career bests in both categories.
“I think he’s like the linchpin in terms of how he blends lineups,” backup guard Spencer Dinwiddie said. “Just in terms of playing the three or four. … (You) can even get a look at him at the small-ball five.”
On many nights, Washington draws Dallas’ most difficult defensive assignment. He spent a significant chunk of the Mavericks’ Nov. 17 win over the Thunder mirroring Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. When Dallas faced the Phoenix Suns two nights after Christmas, Washington started the game on Kevin Durant.
The Mavericks have contemplated trying to add an impact perimeter defender before the Feb. 6 trade deadline, front-office sources on rival teams told The Athletic. The New Orleans Pelicans’ Herb Jones, who last season was the only non-center to make the NBA’s All-Defensive First Team, is one player who fits that description. But there is little belief in NBA circles that the Pelicans will actually move him.
If the Mavericks don’t make a trade, the responsibility of slowing down Gilgeous-Alexander in a potential playoff rematch would go to a combination of Washington, Marshall and Grimes.
“I feel like I can guard anybody,” Washington said. “I feel like I’m comfortable guarding smalls, bigs. It doesn’t really matter.”
The Mavericks are 19-7 when Washington plays this season and 1-6 when he sits. They will lean heavily on him over the next month.
The NBA’s hottest team, the Cavaliers, visits Dallas on Friday. Later this month, the Mavericks have two games against three-time MVP Nikola Jokić and the Denver Nuggets and two games against Gilgeous-Alexander, the player who might win the MVP award this year.
On Jan. 25, the Mavericks host the Celtics in a finals rematch on ABC.
“It’s an important part of the season, for sure,” Irving said. “This is where teams start dropping off or start improving. Teams are already building their identity for their playoff runs. You see the trade rumors. There is a lot going on, business wise. But us internally, we feel really good. We just have to pick each other up. Depending on how I feel, I’m going to need to be picked up. And I’m going to have to pick my guys up.”
(Top photo of P.J. Washington and Kyrie Irving: Jesse Johnson / USA Today)
