The Dallas Mavericks have one of the league’s worst defenses. With the Kyrie Irving trade, they’re doubling down on offense.
Last year, the Mavericks made it to the Western Conference Finals based on two main factors: their defense, sixth-best in the NBA, and Luka Doncic, who averaged 28.4 points and 8.7 assists. This year, they’re still scoring, but they can’t stop anyone — they’re the seventh-worst defense by defensive rating.
In acquiring Irving, they sent away one of their best defenders, forward Dorian Finney-Smith. They also exchanged Spencer Dinwiddie for Irving, which should be relatively neutral defensively. The advanced stats like Irving slightly better, while Dinwiddie has more size. Still, neither of these players is a lockdown defender.
It’s pretty easy to see why Dallas struggles defensively. The Mavs don’t have athleticism on the perimeter, and their big men don’t offer a lot of rim protection. It’s hard to overcome that, even with good schemes and effort from the Mavericks.
The Mavericks are 2-3 since the trade, 2-2 with Irving in the lineup, They’re giving up 118.6 points per game in that stretch. However, they’re also scoring 118 points per game. Dallas is likely going to have a bottom-10 defense in the NBA. The question is, can Doncic and Irving contribute enough on defense to make the Mavs the No. 20 defense and not the No. 25?
It should help to get big man Maxi Kleber back after he missed two months with a hamstring tear.
