(Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images)
The Dallas Mavericks sure hoped that Kyrie Irving would improve their playoff chances.
But ever since he arrived in Dallas, their defense took a massive hit, and they drastically fell in the standings.
Irving shouldn’t be to blame for these shortcomings; he delivered and posted big numbers when asked to be on the floor.
But the Mavs became a flawed roster upon his arrival, and it came to a point where they would rather tank and miss the play-in tournament instead of trying to force things and be a first-round exit.
The Mavs blatantly tanked the final two games of the campaign, with the season finale against the Chicago Bulls as the most obvious example of that.
So, it didn’t take long before the league investigated them, and now Shams Charania of The Athletic reports that they’ve been fined $750,000 for conduct detrimental to the league.
The NBA has fined the Dallas Mavericks $750,000 for its resting of players vs. Bulls late in season.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 14, 2023
The Mavs preferred to keep their chances of landing a top-10 pick in this year’s NBA Draft, as making the playoffs would’ve cost them that pick.
Of course, that’s not ethically or morally correct, but it may have just been the right thing to do from a basketball operations standpoint.
Even so, to go from a championship hopeful to a bottom-four team in a span of months is a major catastrophe for the organization.
Now, they’ll need to go to great lengths to prove that they can compete at the highest level or will risk that Luka Doncic becomes the latest superstar to request a trade.
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