Getty Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks.
The Dallas Mavericks are in a tough spot. After pushing their chips onto the table at the trade deadline to acquire Kyrie Irving, they haven’t seen the results they likely wanted. In turn, Luka Doncic’s frustrations have grown larger.
After a recent loss to the Charlotte Hornets, Doncic spoke about how frustrated he’s been and said he’s not having fun at the moment. This sparked some potential rumblings of a trade request, though nothing is imminent. If he were to get traded, however, this proposal with the New Orleans Pelicans could make some sense.
Here’s an outline of the proposed trade:
Pelicans receive: Doncic
Mavericks receive: Brandon Ingram, Herbert Jones, Dyson Daniels, 2024 1st-Round Pick (via LAL, can pick either 2024 or 2025), 2024 1st-Round Pick (swap option with MIL), 2025 1st-Round Pick, 2026 1st-Round Pick (swap option with MIL), 2027 1st-Round Pick, 2029 1st-Round Pick
Any trade for Doncic will be a massive one. In this case, Dallas would receive an All-Star, an elite young defender, a top-notch prospect, and six first-round picks. Three of the picks would be unprotected Pelicans picks, and the other three would be swap options with the Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks. Jones would need a new contract before this deal could go through.
For the Pelicans, this would secure a Doncic-Zion Williamson tandem moving forward. They would also still have CJ McCollum, Jonas Valanciunas, Naji Marshall, Trey Murphy III, and Jose Alvarado to fill out the rotation.
It seems extremely unlikely that Doncic would request a trade anytime soon, but based on his recent comments, the possibility cannot be ruled out.
Luka Doncic Makes Concerning Comments on Mavs
The Mavericks’ loss to the short-handed Hornets caused these feelings to come to light, as Charlotte was missing multiple key pieces. Doncic was visibly annoyed after the game and made some comments that could lead to the belief that he’s getting sick of Dallas.
“This season hasn’t been what we thought it was going to be. But we still got time to make up [for it],” Doncic said via the Fanatics View YouTube channel.
On top of that, Doncic said that he’s simply not having any fun out on the court right now.
“It’s really frustrating,” Doncic said. “I think you can see it with me on the court. Sometimes, I don’t feel it’s me. Just being out there. I used to have [a lot of] fun. Smiling on the court. But it’s just been so frustrating. For a lot of reasons, not just basketball.”
Kyrie Irving Sounds Off on Luka Doncic
Meanwhile, Irving stressed the importance of taking accountability as a team rather than feeding into the media’s narrative that everything should be placed on Doncic and himself.
“I mean, not really. I didn’t imagine [this],” Irving said via the Fanatics View YouTube channel. “I expect to win every ball game that I play. So, that’s the attitude I go on with. But the reality is what it in. We are 3-7. But again, it’s a team basketball game. As much as people want to put it on me and Luka, it’s a team basketball game, and we talk about that in a locker room. Everyone loves to point fingers at what we’re doing, but it’s a team-aspect game. And I feel like when we focus on our team aspect, that’s when we get clear answers. But when we focus on two guys and what our numbers are and whether we can play better, it limits all the other guys and their capabilities in that locker room, and I don’t want to do that. I believe in each one of those guys. And when I was coming here, I knew that giving up Dorian Finney-Smith or giving up Spencer [Dinwiddie], that was gonna be a change to any lineup that they had going o. Different minutes. Guys get in and out of the lineup. I haven’t necessarily been as healthy as I would like to be at this point in the season. Other guys haven’t been as healthy. e and Luka as well, more importantly. But again, there’s no time for excuses. We just got to lace them up and get ready.”
