Gray Jr.: Mavericks Are Cooked For This Season

Kevin, how are you, man?

JR, appreciate you having me on, man. How are you? I'm okay. Well, look, how are you? How are Mavericks fans?

I think I know the answer. But this is one of the worst. I haven't felt this bad for fan base since really everything that's taken place in Oakland with the A's. And at least y'all still got the team. Yeah, I mean, it's kind of a dire situation with this team, to be quite honest with you, because this is a team that in mid-December was, you know, eight, nine games above 500. At one point, they have won 14 of 17 games, and you felt like they were climbing their way, you know, to a potential top four spot in the Western Conference, even with Luca Dodge being in and out of the lineup.

And then, of course, he goes down with the calf injury. And the last image we have of Dodge is him hobbling off in that Christmas Day game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. And we never thought, no one thought that that would be the last time that we would ever see Luca Dodge in a Dallas Mavericks uniform. And fast forward to, you know, 11, 12 p.m. Central Standard Time on February the 1st, and we get one of the biggest bombshells in the history of the NBA, where two All-NBA players were traded for each other, albeit one at 25 off of five straight first team All-NBA selections, and another one at 31 years of age, who has had a number of injury problems, but at the same time is arguably the best defensive center in the league. Something we've never seen before in terms of a trade. So the amount of shock, the amount of disappointment, the amount of sadness, anger, everyone is vacillating between anger and sadness and frustration and confusion over the last now 10 days. It's been quite remarkable to see how this fan base has obviously responded negatively as they've had to Nico Harrison and Patrick DuMont, who are the owners and the presidential manager of the team.

Kevin Gray Jr. is here with us, the JR Sport Reshow Coast to Coast, a host pre and post game for the Dallas Mavericks podcast, DLLS. When you think about what's next, last night, all over the country, we saw the fans ejected for voicing their displeasure inside of the American Airlines Center, the arena. What's next? Like the Mavs, they can't hold this, the fan base down forever. Are there any other ways that the fans plan on voicing their displeasure? Well, they've already had a trade protest in front of the American Airlines Center this past Saturday when the Mavericks took on the Rockets and what was Andy Davis's debut.

There was demonstrations outside of the building that day. Obviously, fans continue to voice their displeasure when they've been inside the AAC, whether it be with signs or with paraphernalia that has the Mavericks logo on it, but they cover it up and they have been in some ways, well, not in some ways, they have been escorted out of the building by security there. So what's next is that this fan base continues to be emboldened.

They continue to voice their displeasure. This is not going to die down. I don't believe anytime soon because the way that this front office has handled their public comments in the wake of this trade has been with a lack of empathy and sympathy for fans who have had their collective worlds rocked by a trade that they never saw coming. I mean, you had 21 years of Dirk Nowitzki in this city, lazing him to a championship, and then you got a natural bridge and even a connector year of that. Luca and Dirk played together. And then the first six and a half years that Dodge was here, it was a magical ride. Of course, them going to the NBA finals a year ago, and members fans thought that this is going to be the next 10 to 12 years of this player being here and then growing together with him and then to have that ripped away from them. They are heartbroken, and I don't believe that fervor or vitriol toward the front office will be ending anytime soon, especially the way that the front office has responded in the wake of this trade. Well, we heard what Nico Harrison had to say about trying to win now and be situated into the future. He was very clear that if this did not work out, he would likely be buried. I think he knows his fate, and apparently he doesn't care too much about it.

Knowing that this is a disaster, I think a lot of people can admit that. Anthony Davis comes in, has a great game, automatically gets hurt. How long does Nico stick around? Are we talking a year or two?

Does he step down? Should we might as well light a match to the entire organization right now? Well, it seems like they're doing a pretty good job of that themselves over the last 10 days, but Harrison has a competitive window that he sees for the next three to four years, and he felt like Anthony Davis would give them the best chance to win, knowing that according to Nico, of course, that defense wins championships. And no matter how fans feel about Luka Doncic, it became abundantly clear, as we've learned over the last 10 days, that Nico Harrison did not feel like Luka Doncic over the course of the next 10 or so years would be a player that would change enough from a habit standpoint, no matter how you may feel, agree or disagree with that. That would be able to lead them to a championship, despite the fact that he took this team to an NBA finals less than a year ago. So he has made a tremendous, risky bet here in order to bet against Luka Doncic and bet on the idea that Anthony Davis can be healthy enough, long enough to help this team with a championship. And they're going to have to try to do so very quickly because Klay Thompson is 35 years old now.

Kyrie Irving is in the 14th year of his career, and he's 32. And right now he's dealing with a back issue. And Anthony Davis may not be back for weeks at this point with the injury that he's dealing with. So it's already looking extremely dicey for him as far as this trade is concerned, and we haven't even been two weeks into it as of yet. So he has taken a severe risk toward not only the team and their immediate future, but their long term future and his own as an executive in this league.

Yeah, we know what the long term ramifications might look like. I'm asking you, Kevin, are they cooked? I mean, are the Mavs that are going into the toilet, are they are they going to continue to reach some depths before they get better? I mean, there's a slim margin for error here with the selection or trading for Anthony Davis. You just outlined an aging Kyrie Irving who's also had his own history of injuries.

Do you believe they're cooked? For this season, I think so. I mean, we haven't even mentioned the fact that they're starting center and Derek Lively is dealing with a broken ankle. Their backup center just injured themselves last night is going to be out at least two weeks with a right knee sprain. And the acquisition of Caleb Martin, he has not been seen on the floor yet because he's dealing with a hip injury. There are other backup center, Dwight Powell, he's got a hip injury. The injury that this team is dealing with and have dealt with all season long has been long and unfortunate for this team.

P.J. Washington is even dealing with an ankle injury right now. So the bodies that they have available to them and the consistency at which they can have these guys on the floor just simply hasn't been there. And most importantly, it doesn't appear that the centerpiece of the trade that they have in Anthony Davis is going to be around any time soon either. So they've got a long ways to go to try to get themselves out of the play in, if that's even the ability for them to do so.

And if they can't, this will be a lost season and one that has been dramatically lost. Honestly, it didn't have to be because they could have kept hanging on to Luca Doncic, but they decided that that's not the direction that they wanted to go in. If there is any optimism to be had by Dallas Mavericks fans in the fan base, is there a silver lining that you can identify? I mean the hope would be that once Davis comes back that he's able to remain on the floor for the rest of the season and that he and Kyrie Irving are going to be the one-two punch that can get this team at least into the playoffs and then you take your chances from there because a defense that's as good as the Mavericks were. If you watch the first half of that Rockets game on Saturday, Anthony Davis was an absolute monster, dominant on both ends of the floor. But more importantly, that defensive energy fed to his teammates. The Mavericks set a team record with 18 blocks in that game on Saturday against Houston and they looked ferocious on that defensive end. That is what Nikko Harrison is banking on when this team is completely healthy, that that defensive presence and energy led by Anthony Davis will give teams problems when they feel like they can match up against other teams in the West in terms of their size, whether you're talking about a Minnesota or a Denver or Oklahoma City with Isaiah Hartenstein and obviously Chet Holmgren who's now back for them. So they feel like when they are healthy that they have the kind of bodies and lineups to be able to give teams problems. The question is, will we ever see any of that given how difficult this season has been from an injury standpoint? And that remains the biggest question here in Dallas. Yeah, it's it ain't looking good.

Hey, Kevin, thank you. That's just what it is. It is. It is what it is. It's demoralizing. It's terrible. It's awful. It is.

It is probably the worst trade that I've ever seen in my life. We can find a silver lining. We know we know where the odds lie.

The odds are not not positive in that regard. Kevin, thank you so much for the time. Where can people follow you and all of your work covering the Mavs? Yeah, you can find me on at Kevin Gray Sports. I host the DLLS Mavs podcast, our pre and postgame shows as well on the DLLS Sports Network for the All-City Network. And you can catch me on that show five times a week hosting pre and postgame shows in our daily podcast for DLLS Sports. But the quickest way you can get at me is at Kevin Gray Sports on X. Thank you so much, Kevin. We know you're going to be kept busy throughout the rest of the season next couple of years. Hopefully there's a more positive news in there somewhere. OK, I appreciate it, man. Thanks for having me.