DALLAS (AP) — P.J. Washington Jr. sat on the stage in the Dallas Mavericks interview room, fresh off another loss with a decimated lineup for a club facing a second consecutive long summer at home since the stunning trade of Luka Doncic.
Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving didn't play in that 118-105 loss to Minnesota — and might not be in a Mavericks uniform on the same night again — while it was a temporary injury absence for four-time NBA champion Klay
Thompson and Cooper Flagg, the rookie No. 1 pick who landed in Dallas by crazy luck and is seen as the next face of the franchise after Doncic.
Days shy of a year since the Mavs shipped their global superstar to the Los Angeles Lakers for Davis and rocked the core of a team that was just nine months removed from playing in the NBA Finals, Washington's hope for a return to contention rests with those four teammates being healthy alongside him.
“I don’t think our roster is a bad roster. I just think it’s an injured roster,” Washington said. “Once everybody’s healthy, then there will be a lot more people in here recording us with the media. Once Kai get backs and AD gets back, we’ll be a different team for sure. And Klay also.”
As he sat in front of a modest gathering of reporters covering an also-ran in the Western Conference, Washington must have been thinking back to the throng that grew with each playoff series victory 20 months ago.
No way he could have predicted back then what he has been dealing with since Nico Harrison, the general manager at the time, did what Dallas fans considered unthinkable by trading Doncic right around midnight on Feb. 2 last year.
Davis joined the Mavericks with a long history of injury issues, and aggravated an abdominal strain in his Dallas debut. His six-week absence, during which Irving sustained a season-ending knee injury, fueled the anger toward Harrison. Washington made a futile effort to tell fans to stop chanting “fire Nico” in the waning weeks of last season.
The Mavericks hoped fan discontent would ease after they won the rights to Flagg despite just a 1.8% chance in the draft lottery, but the chants continued this season. Harrison was fired after a 3-8 start, and Dallas currently has interim co-general managers in Michael Finley, a former Mavericks player, and Matt Riccardi.
“I just look at the moment, continue to do my job. I know my teammates feel the same way,” said Naji Marshall, who was signed by Harrison as a free agent the offseason after the five-game loss to Boston in the NBA Finals. “It wasn’t us who got traded or fired, so it’s not really something we should focus on much. I know you build relationships with those people, you wish the best for them. Worrying about that stuff is (like) having somebody else do your job for you.”
Flagg, who has been nursing a sprained left ankle, is living up to the promise after leading Duke to the Final Four as just the fourth freshman to be named the AP men's basketball player of the year. He and former Blue Devils teammate Kon Knueppel are neck-and-neck in the NBA Rookie of the Year race.
Thompson, who sat against the Timberwolves this week with a sore left knee, has soldiered through several rough patches since the trade. He joined the Mavericks in large part because of Doncic after spending his first 13 years with Golden State, where he and Stephen Curry were the “Splash Brothers.”
Davis is out until after the All-Star break with ligament damage in his left hand, and he has missed more games than he has played for Dallas because of various ailments. There is talk of trading the 10-time All-Star, which would be another way to move on from Harrison's ill-fated decision.
At the same time, there's no question the Mavs would love to see an extended stretch with a lineup that includes Davis, one of the best two-way big men in league history, and Irving, a nine-time All-Star as a playmaking guard. The pair had just 2 1/2 quarters together before Davis got hurt against the Houston Rockets last Feb. 8.
Even if Davis stays in Dallas, there's no guarantee they'll play together in 2025-26. With so much ground to make up in the West, Dallas has to decide whether it's worth it for Irving to come back at all this season from the left ACL tear last March.
“At some point, there will be a schedule,” coach Jason Kidd said. “It would probably be after All-Star break, but there’s also other plans that could come into play here. Being able to get on the floor and play an NBA game might be just a little bit different than practice.”
Kidd disputed whether the team's record will play a role in the decision.
“It’s about for him mentally and physically being able to play at the highest level,” Kidd said. “In his mind, no one else’s.”
The Mavs will soon play their 82nd regular-season game since the trade, and the record will be remarkably similar to the 33-49 mark from Doncic's rookie season in 2018-19.
There was plenty of promise then — and plenty of plot twists before two deep playoff runs in a span of three seasons. There's more uncertainty than promise now, and plenty of time for things to change again.
“If you’re relying on hope, then that’s going to be a fail,” Kidd said. “I think it’s just a matter of putting in the work, understanding we have a mixture of vets and young players and just going through the process of learning what it means to be a pro, but what it means to win. You’re never guaranteed. We were there two years ago, and we fell short. And things changed. But you’ve got to continue to put your best foot forward, and that’s what this group is doing.”
P.J. Washington Jr. agrees with his coach.
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
