LISTEN: Mavs Barely Escape Pistons; Luka Doncic MVP Case Grows

On this episode of the Mavs Step Back Podcast, we recap the Dallas Mavericks' narrow win over the Detroit Pistons at American Airlines Center on Monday night. It took every bit of Luka Doncic's 53-point performance for Dallas to avoid disaster. Although the Mavs need to get Doncic more consistent help before the NBA trade deadline, his MVP case is growing.

Dalton Trigg | Jan 31, 2023

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Dallas Mavericks

With all due respect to Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid and Jayson Tatum — all of whom have had amazing performances for their respective teams — no player epitomizes the title of “Most Valuable Player” like Luka Doncic does.

This was on full display yet again on Monday night, as it took 53 points from Doncic on 17-24 shooting for the Dallas Mavericks to barely squeak by the league-worst Detroit Pistons. Doncic also grabbed eight rebounds and dished out five assists in 36 minutes. Spencer Dinwiddie was the only other Maverick to reach double-digit scoring with 12 points.

Dallas likely needs to stack up more wins in these final 30 games to give Doncic a legitimate chance of sitting at the top of the MVP rankings in the eyes of the national media, but if we’re just going by the definition alone, no other player is more valuable to his team than Doncic is to the Mavs.

The Mavs know they need to get their four-time All-Star more consistent help, but there’s limited means of doing so before the Feb. 9 trade deadline. However, as we found out around this time last year, GM Nico Harrison is more than capable of pulling some unexpected moves out of his hat.

On today’s episode of the Mavs Step Back Podcast, we recap the Mavs’ win over the Pistons, talk about Doncic’s MVP case, take a look at the grueling five-game road trip coming up after Thursday’s home game against a New Orleans Pelicans team that has lost eight consecutive games, give thoughts on the latest NBA trade rumors involving Dorian Finney-Smith, and much more!

You can listen to the entire episode here:

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Published Jan 31, 2023

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.