Why Luka Doncic, Mavs Will Be Better Than Last Season

Despite not having Jalen Brunson anymore, the Dallas Mavericks could still potentially have a better season than they did last year. We explain why on today's edition of our Mavs Step Back Podcast.

Dalton Trigg | Aug 24, 2022

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Dallas Mavericks

After making it to the Western Conference Finals last season, the expectations for the Dallas Mavericks increased exponentially. Although Dallas lost its second-best player in Jalen Brunson, it hopes Christian Wood, who was acquired in a trade from the Houston Rockets in June, or Spencer Dinwiddie, who will now join Luka Doncic in the starting backcourt, can adequately fill that void.

Whether the Mavs are able to live up to these higher expectations or not will be determined by a handful of factors, including: Doncic getting off to a fast start and staying healthy, potential growth from young players like Josh Green, Frank Ntilikina and Jaden Hardy coming off the bench, Dinwiddie's production in an increased role and Wood getting familiarized with his new teammates and coach Jason Kidd's philosophies.

As far as Doncic's conditioning goes, that's something the Mavs likely won't have to worry about heading into this season, as he's looked fantastic for Slovenia in international play this summer. With EuroBasket 2022 set to take up the majority of September, and NBA training camp quickly following after that, Doncic should be in prime shape when Dallas opens at the Phoenix Suns on Oct. 19.

All of this and much, much more – including potential domino effects for the Mavs that could come from the Kevin Durant and Donovan Mitchell trade sagas – is discussed on today's episode of the Mavs Step Back Podcast. You can listen to the entire 30-minute show right here:

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Published Aug 24, 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.