Luka Doncic MVP Rise: Fueled by Mavs' Kristaps Porzingis Trade?

Luka Doncic has the Dallas Mavericks in position to potentially steal homecourt advantage from the Utah Jazz with his MVP-level play. Was Kristaps Porzingis holding him back?

There was an expectation from many for the Dallas Mavericks to have a quiet trade deadline. That, of course, did not end up being the case as Kristaps Porzingis, who was viewed as the team's co-star to Luka Doncic, was dealt to the Washington Wizards with Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans being the return. 

Doncic has averaged an incredible 41.5 points, 12.3 rebounds and 7.0 assists in the four games he's played since the Mavericks finalized the trade to send Porzinigs to the Wizards. Despite the uptick, Doncic insists there's no correlation occurring.

“It comes down to continuing to build our chemistry," Doncic said. "I think we’re at a good place right now and I think there’s still a lot of room for improvement, which is super exciting.

“I think there’s some strides we can make defensively as well, and offensively. So I think we’re in a great position to continue to improve from the position we’re in.”

Doncic's recent MVP level play is part of a larger pattern of improved play after having his ankle heal and losing unnecessary weight. He has played 23 games since returning from a 10-game absence (ankle/COVID) and has averaged 29.3 points, 10.3 rebounds, and 9.4 assists.

“I think he was humbled a little bit,” Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said during an appearance on 1310 The Ticket in Dallas. “I think he didn’t like being called out for his weight and other things, and it finally clicked that there’s a level of discipline that’s required.

“All athletes at his level go through it at some level, where things are just easy and you’re always used to being the best and you’re always used to getting all the accolades. Then when something doesn’t go according to expected, it makes you reconsider.”

The trade itself may not be giving Doncic a boost in the motivation department, but regardless, he's seen a heavier share of initiation burden on offense. His usage rate has since increased by six percent and is at 41.2 percent, which leads the NBA during this span.

Instead of trying to work touches into the half-court offense for Porzingis, the Mavericks are able to use a more spread pick-and-roll and dribble handoff oriented attack where Doncic's scoring and playmaking are the starts of the typical possession. Teams have to react to the threat he poses and the complementary options in the offense experience benefit as a result.  

The focus has long shifted away from reacting to no longer having Porzingis in the fold. Instead, the Mavericks aim to see what they have in Bertans and Dinwiddie going forward ahead of the start of the playoffs.  

“We believe that we’ve got questions to answer with two new players, so getting them in the fold (is important) so that we can have those answers by mid-March,” Kidd said. “We have two new players that played two games, so we’re trying to get minutes under their belt and see how they handle different situations.

“But I like the way we’re trending on both sides of the ball – offense and defense. And I think sometimes with the break you kind of ease back into things. So we’ll see, this being our first time together of trying to get that rhythm back and playing that level of basketball before the break. Then, from that point on we can start focusing on ramping up for the playoffs.”