Dallas Mavericks: 5 takeaways from the 2018-19 NBA season

1. The future is bright in Dallas

Following their improbable run to the championship in 2011, the Mavericks appeared to be stuck in no-mans land. They were too good to add top-level talent through the draft, yet no star free agent appeared willing to take his talents to Dallas.

This put the organization in a dreaded state of mediocrity, one that included four first-round exits and what is now four no-shows in the postseason. When they made the draft-night trade for Doncic, things began to look up, but it was when Dallas pulled off its blockbuster deadline deal that really got the ball rolling on its future.

There’s obviously no telling how Kristaps Porzingis will play upon his return from over a year-long absence rehabbing a torn ACL. When healthy, though, he is one of the best young two-way talents in the game, equally capable of protecting the rim at one end and reigning down long-distance bombs at the other.

He and Luka should form the next great dynamic duo in the NBA. Their games compliment each other’s perfectly, Doncic as the ballhandler and KP as the inside presence and screen option either rolling to the rim or fading out beyond the arc.

It was a murky seven-year period in Dallas, one where the direction of the franchise was as good of a guess by the fans as the front office. Things are different now, with two of the brightest stars of tomorrow and cap space to fill out the rest of the roster in whatever way the organization deems fit. To simply put it, things are about to get fun.