Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban celebrates during Game 3 of the 2022 Western Conference Finals versus the Golden State Warriors.
The Dallas Mavericks have never been the same since they chose to let Jalen Brunson walk away and sign with the New York Knicks. Not even Kyrie Irving’s arrival at the trade deadline could save them from falling outside the play-in tournament with three games left in their schedule.
With their collapse after reaching the Western Conference Finals last year, the Mavericks are desperately looking at improving their roster around Doncic and Irving, which could affect the Knicks’ off-season plans.
The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that Mavericks are seriously considering shutting down Luka Doncic and Irving to keep their 2023 first-round pick from conveying to the New York Knicks this year and use it as a trade chip.
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“I’m told that the organization is seriously considering shutting down those guys. They have a top-10 protected pick. So being out of the play-in race, it behooves them not to try to keep their pick,” Charania said on FanDuel TV’s Run It Back Monday episode.
The Mavericks owe the Knicks a top-10 protected selection in the next draft from the Kristaps Porzingis trade in 2019.
Entering Monday’s NBA games, the Mavericks’ pick is currently positioned at No. 10, per Tankathon. If they tank their remaining games, it will virtually guarantee the selection will not convey to the Knicks this year and give the Mavericks a greater chance to go up in the lottery.
It will also mean the Knicks will be without a first-round selection this year, as they have already traded their own pick, with top-14 protection, to the Portland Trail Blazers in the Josh Hart trade. Portland is guaranteed to have that pick after the Knicks clinched a playoff berth Sunday night.
The Knicks’ other first-round picks from Detroit Pistons (top-18 protection this year) and Washington Wizards (top-14 protection this year) will also not convey in the next draft as they are both lottery-bound.
The ideal scenario for the Knicks is for that Mavericks’ pick to convey this year in a deep draft class headlined by French prodigy Victor Wembanyama, hoping to add that as a potential trade chip this summer.
But if it doesn’t convey this year, the Knicks will still have two more cracks at Mavericks’ first-round selections with the same protections in 2024 and 2025 before it becomes a second-round pick.
The Knicks can still add that to their own three future first-round selections (2024, 2026 and 2028) in a potential trade for the next star available after their 2023 first-round pick is conveyed to the Trail Blazers on NBA Draft Night.
