NBA bubble: 3 teams who enjoyed their time in Orlando

1. Dallas Mavericks

Outside of the Nuggets, nobody else can feel as optimistic about their future as the Dallas Mavericks after their time in Florida. We already knew Luka Doncic was a superstar, but his play in their first-round loss to the Clippers took him to the next level again. Doncic was amazing, despite getting some rough treatment from a number of Clippers players.

He did this mostly without the help of Kristaps Porzingis, who was ejected from the first game before having to sit out the rest of the six-game slugfest because of a torn ligament in his right knee. The manner in which the Clippers eventually fell to the Nuggets might take some of the shine off that feat, but there is no question that they were much the better and deeper team versus the Mavericks.

About the only potential drawback, and one which we won’t see for some time yet, is that the Mavericks don’t have a ton of flexibility to change the players around Doncic and Porzingis at the moment. If Porzingis can get healthy (a big if) and Doncic continues his ascension the way that he has to this point (and he will), that might not even matter.

The Mavericks had the top offensive rating in the league during the regular season (115.9), which ranks among the best numbers ever in that category. So much of that was down to Doncic, who was able to find teammates and dictate the pace of the whole game with ease. He did so while nearly averaging a triple-double on the year too (28.8 points, 9.4 rebounds and 8.8 assists).

Doncic’s 3-point shooting (31.6 percent) was the area that clearly needed work, and yet in the playoffs that number rose to 36.4 percent as he hit a game-winner from deep in Game 4 to tie up the series. He did not seem nervous at all in the lead up to the biggest moment of his career to this point either.

The Mavericks aren’t just Doncic, with Tim Hardaway Jr. a constant scoring threat (on a large contract), Maxi Kleber extremely underrated and a great defensive option for this roster and Seth Curry having turned into a top-five 3-point shooter in the league. But for the next decade, he will be their driving force, and as things stand there might not be one player you’d take to start a franchise with. That first round against the Clippers was only the beginning.