As exciting as Luka Doncic’s future may be, I cannot stress enough that the next five years (and possibly more) of Mavericks basketball hinges almost entirely upon Kristaps Porzingis regaining his pre-injury form. Dallas gave Porzingis a five-year, $158 million max contract, betting hard on Porzingis’ recovery. They need this to work. It has to work. If they want to keep Doncic, the bet on KP is all that matters. Dallas needs to look no further than Porzingis himself to see a disaffected young superstar-in-the-making ready to jump ship after an organizational vision for the future falls apart.



If Porzingis is Porzingis, Dallas is pairing a generational talent with a generational talent. A great deal of attention has been paid to Kristaps’ offensive abilities. And rightfully so; make no mistake, offense matters much more than defense in today’s NBA. As a reminder, he can do it all offensively. In 2017-18, he ranked ahead of Klay Thompson, Joe Harris...