After losing to the Clippers in the first round again this season, Luka Doncic has the opportunity to sign a Supermax extension with the Mavericks. Under no circumstance should he sign on the dotted line.
This headline may feel like a reach, it may seem like an overreaction and many readers may have scrolled by thinking it is clickbait. I am here to tell you that it isn’t a reach, or a headline it is a fact. For the second year in a row Doncic put on a herculean effort that came up short in the first round. He did everything in his power and more to put the team over the hump and I mean everything. Playing on what looked to be an injured shoulder, or a good excuse for missing his free throws, Doncic forced the Clippers to seven games and positioned the Mavericks to not only advance to the second round but contend to be the team coming out of the West. This position quickly escaped them as the Clippers dug themselves out of a 3-2 deficit, winning two in a row and closing Doncic out in LA. Not even two days since the game a reporter asked Doncic if he would be signing a super max this offseason.
Luka Doncic on signing the looming $200 million contract extension he will be offered this summer: “I think you know the answer.”
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) June 7, 2021
As a twenty two year old kid who has only been in the league for three years, 200 million dollars sounds like a pretty easy decision. Combine that with an owner who wants to bring a winning product back to the city of Dallas and strong personal ties to Dirk Nowitzki, Doncic not signing the supermax would shake the league to the core. Yet, if all of this is happening in Dallas why would I be so adamant in saying he shouldn’t sign? The answer is simple, Giannis Antetokounmpo 2.0.
Doncic and Giannis are two wildly different players, had different paths to superstardom and play for two extremely different organizations. The other difference is that Luka has a way out. Giannis thought that the organization trading for Jrue Holiday was enough good faith to re-sign with the team long term and cash that supermax check. The team showed their commitment to “winning” by also trading for PJ Tucker at the deadline to bolster their starting lineup and challenge for the NBA championship this year. However, what Giannis saw as good faith on paper has been nothing but another classic Budenholzer season. The Bucks sacrificed their bench depth for Holiday and Tucker, shuffled around a few pieces and ended up with a 9 man playoff rotation featuring Bobby Portis, Bryn Forbes, Pat Connaughton and Donte DiVincenzo. After Divincenzo suffered a season ending injury in the first round, the Bucks have had no answer to fill the hole in their rotation. They have no next man up, no unsung rookie on the bench and no crafty veteran to steer the ship for the second unit. The Bucks will always win 55-60 games in the regular season but their good faith commitment to winning has put them in the upper echelon of NBA mediocrity. Giannis has no Robin, he has a bunch of Jokers that might show up but usually end up doing more harm than good. Giannis had an opportunity to get out, he could have cashed a normal max contract in free agency and went on to be supported by other superstars. Instead he chose Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton.
<align=center>Doncic is now in a similar position. He is younger and for all the reasons that we originally stated has strong ties to the organization. However, the organization has failed him. The Mavericks are average on their best night because of the people surrounding Luka. Porzingis is Luka’s first problem, he continually fails to perform up to his contract and seemingly disappears in the playoffs. All he does is give the team empty buckets and a seven foot “unicorn” should be able to give you an impactful 20 & 10 which he fails to do. Recently, we have also heard that Porzingis is disgruntled over the attention Doncic receives from the organization in comparison to himself. This is problematic because he still believes that Doncic is his equal. While all teammates are important, Doncic is the clear cut superstar on the Mavericks and needs to be respected and treated as such. Porzingis is known to be difficult but signing a supermax, having a messy falling out and then forcing the team to trade Porzingis for .10 cents to the dollar will only make the team worse in the long run.
The organization has also not done enough to get Luka help. The Porzingis trade was a good move in theory but it was clear from last year it was not working. Instead of taking calls or even trying to move the meter on a James Harden trade (who was given up for peanuts), the front office stood pat and instead traded Seth Curry for Josh Richardson. Why? Why trade one of the best three point shooters in the league for a player who underperformed in the year prior. It made no sense and eliminated one of Doncic’s best passing options. Josh Richardson played 6 minutes in game seven. The organization traded one of the most team friendly deals in the league for a guy who played SIX minutes in game seven. They have continued to make the wrong moves in trying to build around their best player, have no cap flexibility this offseason, one of the worst contracts in the league on their books and not a single draft pick in one of the deepest drafts in recent history.
Doncic can collect the bag if he wants, it is great that he wants to show loyalty to the organization that brought him into the league but he has plenty of time to make money. If he wants to begin to win championships before 25, he could easily find help on a team with cap flexibility and draft capital if he lets his deal play out. I understand with one year left on his rookie contract and restricted free agency coming after that he would have to wait at least two years before he was able to leave the organization. However, if he refused to sign the max he may force the team to get better around him now instead of wasting three years of a prime that started at 21 years old.
If he does decided to stay and inevitably sign the supermax, he won’t win in Dallas. He will be in rebuild mode carrying below average teams to first round exits until they can figure out how to unload the Porzingis contract and elevate their role players.
Good Luck Luka.