With Anthony Davis injury concerns, Nico Harrison’s gamble goes beyond trading Luka Doncic – The Dallas Morning News
sportsMavericksBy Tim CowlishawIt is a foregone conclusion that any team trading a 25-year-old superstar for a rival’s 31-year-old superstar is searching for short-term rewards. Is three quarters about the shortest on record?Anthony Davis was fantastic for about an hour and a half Saturday afternoon, dominating the Houston Rockets and inspiring the Mavericks to a team record 18 blocked shots (he had three but I bet it seemed like more to Houston all-star Alperen Sengun). Then he suffered a groin pull while sliding on defense and left Dallas’ 116-105 victory with a little more than two minutes remaining in the third quarter.This is the immediate future of your Mavericks. For fans, it means learning to love a defense-oriented team while holding your breath that Davis leaves the court at the end of the fourth quarter on a more regular basis. Davis has a long injury history with New Orleans and Los Angeles, which is why GM Nico Harrison’s big gamble goes beyond simply trading Luka Doncic to the Lakers.Afterward, Davis said he felt tightness in his groin but did not consider it serious. That doesn’t guarantee he’s ready for another 30 minutes Monday against Sacramento. Dallas has three more home games between now and Thursday before the league’s All-Star break, and, at 28-25, the team would love for Davis to be a regular contributor in all three. Although he has proven his value over 13 seasons, Davis has missed enough time that building around him has always been a risk. He has missed more than 15 games in six different seasons.Be the smartest Mavericks fan. Get the latest news.Or with: By signing up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy PolicyBut it is a gamble head coach Jason Kidd accepts readily and — it seems — enthusiastically.He may have even indicated a future with the Cowboys, an organization that has made the emasculation of coaches a calling card, with his pregame remarks, reaffirming that this was Nico’s trade and essentially none of his business.Kidd again said he didn’t know of the deal until “the 11th hour” and then defined that as being called up to Harrison’s hotel room shortly before the trade was announced. When I asked if he was OK with having such a limited role in roster construction — and you really can’t compare the trade of an all-NBA player to other sports because there is no equivalent — Kidd answered in the affirmative.“I’m an employee of the Mavs,” he said. “I coach the players that are here. We’ve made a trade and we’ve got to push forward, and that’s what we’re doing. Trades happen in this game. Things change. Coaches change. Teams get sold. A lot of things happen that are out of your control, but you’ve got to continue to do your job, and that’s what I’m doing.“I’m the coach. I’m not the decision-maker. (Jerry Jones clipping and saving as he spoke). I’m here to coach the team that’s given to me, and then I’m judged on that by you guys.”The judgments have been largely positive in Kidd’s return to Dallas, his third coaching stop already. His team went to the NBA Finals last June. He’s the only coach to take his team to the Western Conference finals two of the last three seasons. Of course it doesn’t take an NBA guru to tell you it was also Luka’s team (with almost two completely different supporting casts) accomplishing those things since 2022.Now it’s up to Davis to show he can do those things, and he delivered a showcase first half with 24 points, 13 rebounds, five assists and three blocks as Dallas took a 17-point lead. Then we saw the other side of Davis as he limped to the locker room with 14 minutes to play, leaving his teammates to hold on against a Houston team that stumbled to a sixth consecutive loss.Kidd seemed fine with believing that Davis is fine, and why wouldn’t he want to go that route?The Mavericks put on the kind of defensive clinic they envision this team producing in its new iteration, not only challenging everything at the rim but guarding more aggressively on the perimeter. Houston made just 28.6% of its three-point shots Saturday while Dallas hit 52.2%. The latter is unsustainable, but it’s reasonable to envision the Mavericks as one of the league’s best 3-point defenders with Davis, Daniel Gafford (six blocks in 26 minutes) and eventually Dereck Lively II on the back end.“Those were almost all contested threes [for Houston],” Kidd said. “Someone like AD, he just changes the game because of his ability to weak-side block on on-ball block. To have Gaff and AD down there, it protects the paint and puts a lot of pressure on the perimeter.”It was what Kidd wanted to see, at least for three quarters. For fans, it’s going to take quite a few more conference-climbing wins and full games from Davis to think the short term is half as bright as Mavs’ management wants it to be.X/Twitter: @TimCowlishawFind more Mavericks coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.Tim Cowlishaw arrived at the News more than 40 years ago, covering SMU in the fall of 1983. Since that time, he has been the national baseball writer, the Cowboys beat writer for six seasons, the Stars beat writer for three seasons and a sports columnist since 1998. As Stars coach Pete DeBoer can tell you, Tim writes what he wants.
