The Dallas Mavericks had a chance to become pretenders to somewhat playoff contenders when they saw Kawhi Leonard was open for business. He's going to be reunited up North, but not with his old friend Masai Ujiri. After it was reported Sunday that the Mavs were interested in Leonard, it became a perfect dream reunion that all of a sudden makes sense, but Leonard will be back in Canada.
That dream isn't alive anymore, as he was traded from the Los Angeles Clippers to the Toronto Raptors. Leonard reunites with his one-and-done championship team from 2019, and the Mavericks shouldn't fear, because at the end of the day, they don't need Leonard, and they're going in a much different direction anyway.
The two-time NBA champion with the Raptors and the San Antonio Spurs is widely considered injury-prone. It never made much sense to attach a 35-year-old to a 19-year-old who's about to break the league.
Mavericks dodged a bullet with missing out on Kawhi Leonard
While it would've been nice to have "The Claw," a man known for his defensive hands, three-level scoring, and high IQ, this is the complete opposite of the Mavericks' timeline now. This is clearly Cooper Flagg's team for the taking, and there's nothing that's going to stop that at this point.
But Leonard, at 35, isn't getting younger and healthier. He's still a heck of an athlete when he's on the floor, but the Mavs already learned their lesson with Anthony Davis. They don't need that to happen again.
It's clear the Mavs had to go in a different direction to erase the residue from the Luka Doncic trade, and they did that thanks to Jason Kidd and Nico Harrison "burying" themselves. Mike Schmitz and Ujiri are in, and they fully acknowledge that Flagg is their future guy.
Leonard would've been a nice piece to add to mentor Flagg, but he already has Kyrie Irving for that. Everything we've heard in the past month signals that Irving is staying a Maverick. Irving is enough to be a player-coach, and Dusty May already signaled he would be turning to Irving a lot as a first-year head coach.
Flagg is already one of the best attractions in the NBA. He's one of the best young players out there, right up there with Victor Wembanyama, Dylan Harper and his Duke buddy Kon Kneuppel. There are plenty of connections Ujiri has, too, so don't think he won't use that to his advantage.
Mavs fans shouldn't treat this as the one that got away, but the one they saved their energy on.
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