The trade of Kristaps Porzingis from the Dallas Mavericks to the Washington Wizards took the basketball world by surprise. Mavs superstar Luka Doncic also made it clear that he was “shocked” by the Latvian’s departure and, despite the ultimately failed time together, made conciliatory tones.
“Of course we will miss KP,” said Doncic after his 51-point performance against the Clippers. “We were building something great. Apparently it didn’t work.” The Slovenian accepts the reasons that led to the trade that brought Davis Bertans and Spencer Dinwiddie to Dallas in return and supported GM Nico Harrison and owner Mark Cuban: “I trust them, whatever decision they make.”
Porzingis, who had 20 points, 8.8 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in his 134 games for the Mavericks, wished Doncic “only the best for the future. He had to go through a lot with his injuries. He was much better this year. But the NBA is ultimately about business.” Even this season, in which Porzignis showed good performances apart from a very weak three-point quota of 28.3 percent, he was only able to play in 34 of 55 games, which is why there are doubts as to whether he will be able to get fit in the long term in the future remain.
According to Doncic, it’s just a matter of looking ahead and welcoming the new boys: “Bertans is a great shooter, Dinwiddie can put the ball on the ground and score.” Doncic has “great teammates, many guys are good in many areas and I’m quite good too. We’re playing really good basketball at the moment.”
A strong run has seen the Mavericks rank fifth in the Western Conference with a 33-23 record, 2 games behind the Jazz and 5.5 games behind the Grizzlies. It continues on Sunday night with the rematch against the Clippers, which Dallas recently defeated thanks to the Doncic Gala.
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