Luka Doncic's Mavs Make Major Leap in NBA Power Rankings Following Trade Deadline Deals

MVP candidate Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks are riding a four-game win streak, and as a result, they're skyrocketing up the NBA Power Rankings list.

Dalton Trigg | Feb 12, 2024

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Dallas Mavericks

After a perfect week that included a 3-0 road trip and a blowout win over the Oklahoma City Thunder at home, the retooled Dallas Mavericks are skyrocketing up the NBA Power Rankings.

This week, NBA.com has the Mavs ranked No. 7, which is seven spots up from their No. 14 ranking from last week. During Dallas' current four-game win steak, all wins have been by double-digits, and the fact that P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford seemed like seamless fits in their first game with the Mavs following the trade deadline makes it easy to see why many people have renewed confidence in this team.

USATSI_22490611 — Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

"Kyrie Irving has been back for four games and the Mavs have won all four. Road wins over the Sixers and Knicks came with the context that those teams were missing Joel Embiid and Jalen Brunson, but the Mavs clobbered the healthy Thunder on Saturday afternoon," John Schuhmann wrote.

"The four wins have all come by double-digits and the streak has been one of the Mavs’ strongest stretches of the season on both ends of the floor. Irving and Luka Doncic have been brilliant offensively, but allowing just 107.5 points per 100 possessions over the four games is much more noteworthy, given that the Mavs allowed 126 per 100 over the previous 11. (Plus, that defensive success hasn’t been about 3-point shooting.)"

Luka Doncic Has Major Praise for Mavs Trade Additions P.J. Washington, Daniel Gafford

With the Mavs' final two games before the All-Star break being against the lowly Washington Wizards and San Antonio Spurs, there's a good chance they could be riding a six-game win streak while having more than a week to get Dereck Lively II and Dante Exum completely healthy. With the Mavs having the third-easiest remaining schedule, achieving a 50-win season isn't out of the question. And if that happens, it will be hard for voters to keep Luka Doncic from winning his first league MVP award.

Published Feb 12, 2024

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.