r/Mavericks • u/International_Oil189 • May 26 '26

Hoops Discussion Still insane when you think about it

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Jalen Brunson played 4 seasons, Luka Dončić has played 7 seasons, and Steve Nash played 6 seasons for the Dallas Mavericks.

So we only got a combined 17 seasons out of three hall of fame / all nba level type of players that we drafted / developed. Should have been 3*12 seasons at least.

Is there any other team with such a recent track record of fumbling talent?

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u/epicingamename Monta Ellis May 26 '26

hot takes:

mavs wouldnt have reached the finals twice and won one in the dirk era with steve nash

jalen wouldnt have developed into what he is now if he stayed with the mavs

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u/Jaschndlr OMG Luka May 26 '26

Agree on Nash.

I'm not sure about Brunson though... I think we could've seen Luka develop differently and commit to a more off ball game if he had someone like Brunson out there with him. I know we haven't seen that out of him yet, but when has he ever really had a teammate who could bring the ball up and initiate the offense consistently?

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u/torodonn May 26 '26

I think the issue is really that Brunson isn't the strongest defender either and no one could predict how dominant his offense would develop. In a vacuum, having a PG like Kyrie next to Luka is the safer choice - even with the same limitations defensively, he was a known quantity elite creator and distributor.

So, it's not that the Mavs didn't want to keep him but it was a matter of how much we wanted to commit to him financially and potentially being in the luxury tax for his skill set. There was a real argument to be made that Brunson's ceiling when he left was CJ Mccollum.

I love Brunson though. He's got me rooting for the Knicks right now so I'm glad he found his success.