Dallas Basketball

ESPN Analyst Picks Mavs as Top 5 Title Contender

ESPN analyst Tim Legler likes what the Dallas Mavericks did at the trade deadline, and he now thinks Luka Doncic and company can be a legitimate championship contender this season.

Dalton Trigg

In this story:

Most people agree that the Dallas Mavericks are much better than they were before acquiring Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington at this year’s trade deadline. However, some have tempered expectations while others see a higher ceiling for Dallas going forward.

ESPN analyst Tim Legler, who played for the Mavs during the 1992-93 and 1993-94 NBA seasons, falls into the latter group. On Thursday’s episode of “Get Up,” Legler put the Mavs at No. 4 on his top title contenders list for this season. Here was the entire top-five list: 1) Denver Nuggets, 2) Boston Celtics, 3) Los Angeles Clippers, 4) Dallas Mavericks, 5) Phoenix Suns.

Luka Doncic, Daniel Gafford, Dallas Mavericks
Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

With Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving both healthy and playing at an All-NBA level, it’s easy to see why Legler is so high on the Mavs. Now that Dallas has strengthened its superstar duo’s supporting cast, the potential of this team has been raised considerably.

Thursday night’s matchup between the Mavs and Suns will be a big one, as Dallas is just one game behind fifth-seeded Phoenix. The atmosphere at American Airlines Center should have the feel of a playoff game, as Doncic, Irving and the Mavs look to extend their season-high six-game winning streak.

Kevin Durant Speaks on 'Tough Task' Guarding Mavs; Suns Signing Thaddeus Young

The Mavs still have some work to do in order to convince other national media pundits that they’re true title contenders, and securing a big win tonight against the Suns would be a positive step in that direction. Check back into DallasBasketball.com later this evening for extensive postgame coverage following Mavs-Suns, which tips off at 6:30 p.m. CT on TNT.

Published
Dalton Trigg
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.

Home/News