Dallas Mavericks look to do some damage with their own star duo
By Phil Watson
Storyline No. 2: How good can the LukaCorn duo be?
On paper, it is a match made in heaven: A gifted facilitator in Luka Doncic paired with a finisher with skills inside and out in Kristaps Porzingis.
The Dallas Mavericks have invested much of their future in that match turning out to be as heavenly as it appears to be, re-signing Porzingis to a max five-year, $158.3 million deal this summer that includes a player option for the final season in 2023-24.
Porzingis hasn’t played in an NBA game since tearing his left ACL while with the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 6, 2018, just after being named an All-Star for the first time in his career.
The Unicorn sat out all of last season, pushing his way out of Manhattan with a trade request that came to fruition on Jan. 31.
Porzingis turned 24 in August and is noticeably bigger in the upper body in workout posts from his Instagram account.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BzI_y2RhfEV/
Offensively, Porzingis is the total package. He averaged 22.7 points per game in 48 games before his injury in 2017-18, but the added strength could help him improve on his 43.9 percent shooting mark overall from that season. He hit a career-best 39.5 percent on 4.8 3-point attempts per game.
The pick-and-roll/pick-and-pop possibilities with Doncic and Porzingis are mind-boggling, particularly if the added bulk can help Porzingis improve on the 60.4 percent he shot in the restricted area two seasons ago.
But that strength could also have repercussions at the defensive end, where Porzingis might be able to handle defensive assignments at the 5, thus allowing the Mavericks to take full advantage of his ability as a rim protector.
Porzingis averaged 2.4 blocks per game in 2017-18, leading the NBA with a block rate of 6.4 percent. Provided he’s strong enough not to get swallowed whole by some of the NBA’s larger 5s, that could provide a new element for the Mavericks, as journeyman Dwight Powell is not elite, or even average, as a rim protection force.
How this tandem of talented Europeans develops will have a lot to say about how far the Mavericks can go this season.