Bulls’ Alex Caruso Reveals Bold Mavs Prediction for Next Season

Despite the Mavs losing Jalen Brunson, Alex Caruso sees the team doing better than many people think they will.

Dalton Trigg | Jul 19, 2022

Although the Dallas Mavericks took a big step forward by bolstering their big-man situation with Christian Wood and JaVale McGee, there are still questions about how the team will replace the some of the secondary playmaking Jalen Brunson provided.

For now, it looks like Spencer Dinwiddie will be joining Luka Doncic in the starting lineup, which might actually be a good thing for everyone involved, given that Dinwiddie is 6-5 with nice length for a guard. However, another playmaker off the bench is a need that must be addressed before the new season begins. Despite the Mavs having yet to address that need, at least one current NBA player believes Dallas will still be a dangerous team in the Western Conference.

"For me, I think even [after] losing Jalen [Brunson], I think it's Dallas," said Chicago Bulls guard Alex Caruso on The Old Man and Three podcast when asked who his NBA Finals sleeper is for the 2022-23 season. His respect for his former Los Angeles Lakers assistant coaches is one big reason for his bold prediction.

"I don't even know if they count as a sleeper pick, but I just know how [Jason] Kidd operates. I know how [Jared Dudley] operates. I know Greg St. Jean is one of the best basketball minds in the game. He doesn't get a lot of attention and recognition because he was behind the bench in L.A. with us, but I know how those guys operate mentally."

Aside from excellent coaching, Caruso also believes that Luka Doncic's continued development is something many people will overlook heading into next season.

"I know the star power Luka [Doncic] has. He's only going to get better. Even this year, I thought [the Mavs] had a chance to get [to the Finals]. ... It might not be a sleeper pick, but I still think at the beginning of next year, nobody's gonna say, 'hey, Dallas is going to be back there.'"

Given that Doncic has made three straight All-NBA First Team appearances, it's easy to forget that he's only 23 years old with his entire career ahead of him. He likely won't hit his true prime form for at least another 2-3 years. If Doncic shows up to training camp in great shape this year, watch out for the Mavs to surprise a lot of people.

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Published Jul 19, 2022

DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.