The matchup with the Clippers, who falter with quality perimeter defenders to dog Doncic, will be the Mavericks’ first playoff series without Nowitzki since 1990. As Dallas has quickly learned since turning a draft day deal with Atlanta to acquire the rights of the Slovenian star in June 2018, Doncic has an advantage in speeding up time travel.
Even with future two-time MVP Steve Nash on his side, Nowitzki did not reach the playoffs until his third NBA season. The same goes for LeBron James and Kevin Durant. But Doncic got there in his second year, and in his first season alongside Porzingis, who bought Dallas on January 31, 2019 in a deal with the Knicks, deserves the passionate debate.
Doncic confirming his franchise player after just a few months is what convinced the Mavericks to follow Porzingis so hard for the 2019 trade date. Porzingis won up with the postponement of his Mavericks debut until this season, and expanded his rehabilitation from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in February 2018 after 20 months, but he is back to an All-Star level in 2020 after an odd start. In 21 games since Jan. 31, buoyed by a move to center after Dwight Powell’s injury from Achilles’ season, Porzingis averages 26.7 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.1 blocks. In six of those games, he collected at least 30 points and 10 rebounds, having done so only three times in his first 222 NBA games.
White regrets in Madison Square Garden, where the Knicks have rallied their front office in recent months. Steve Mills, the former team president, was reappointed and replaced by player agent Leon Rose, at least in part because it became clear that the Mills-led front office was not getting nearly enough for Porzingis. The inconsistent Dennis Smith Jr., and two future first-round picks represent the Knicks’ primary return of the deal.
“They’re a two-star team now,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers told the Mavericks.
Porzingis, a 7-foot-3 Latvian, celebrated his 25th birthday in the bubble on August 25, but knows, for all the praise he has received from Rivers and others, that he is about to gain a higher level of control under the playoff microscope.
“Statistics and all that is great, but when people look back, they want to see who was a winner, who won it all and who achieved great things as a team,” Porzingis said. “The main goal should be team success.”
