‘F***ing disaster’: Inside the Mavs’ brutal downfall as $155m blunder comes back to haunt them

Even the Dallas Mavericks know that their 2022-23 NBA season was a “f–king disaster.”

A wide-ranging article in The Athletic documented the Mavericks’ downfall this season, which started with the team passing on retaining now-Knicks star Jalen Brunson and was accelerated when they traded for a different guard playing in New York City, Kyrie Irving.

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After Dallas made it to the Western Conference Finals in 2022, losing to the eventual-champion Golden State Warriors in five games, owner Mark Cuban brazenly declared that they could pay Brunson “more than anyone.”

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It all unravelled for the Mavericks this season.Source: AFP

Losing Brunson led to the Mavs relying too heavily on transcendent star Luka Doncic, who, despite having an excellent season, was not able to vault Dallas to the top of the Western Conference standings.

Then, Irving became available after promoting an anti-Semitic film and falling out of favor with a collapsing Brooklyn Nets team — and Dallas viewed it as both a short-term and long-term opportunity.

After sending Spencer Dinwiddie and Dorian Finney-Smith (Doncic’s best friend on the team) to the Nets for Irving, the Mavericks collapsed, going 5-11 in games the two stars played together and missing even the play-in tournament.

An anonymous team source described the season as a “f–king disaster” to The Athletic, with a player saying, “I’m glad it’s over,” after the season ended.

“I saw this coming a long time ago,” a former team employee told The Athletic. “But I didn’t expect it to be this bad.”

Kyrie Irving and his daughter Azurie Elizabeth Irving attend game seven of the Western Conference First Round Playoffs between the Golden State Warriors and the Sacramento Kings.Source: AFP

The long-term play of acquiring Irving is also murky; he is now an unrestricted free agent, and despite hope that his relationship with head coach Jason Kidd is strong enough to keep him in Dallas, it’s anyone’s guess as to where the mercurial point guard’s head is at.

Doncic told the media, “I wish [Kyrie] can still be here” in 2023-24 – but who knows.

LeBron James and the Lakers were considered a leading contender to make a move for Kyrie, speculation that intensified when he was spotted courtside for the Los Angeles side’s Game 6 clash with the Grizzlies.