The Opening Tip

• Dallas has taken Milwaukee’s place as the NBA’s biggest underachiever

• There are two great young big men in Texas

• The play-in tourney in the West is going to be peak TV

Must watch games

You gotta give.

1. This can’t be much fun for Luka

ESPN had a segment Monday vaguely hinting that rookie Victor Wembanyama might ask out sooner than later if the Spurs don’t start winning, which is insane/embarrassing/why small market fans hate NBA media, etc.

A more reasonable topic in the same vein, though: How long will Luka Doncic, now in Year 6, put up with playing on mediocre teams?

Here’s what he’s done in the seven games since the All-Star break in PTS/RBD/AST format … 

• 41-9-11

• 33-6-6

• 35-9-14

• 30-12-16

• 37-12-11

• 38-11-10

• 39-10-11

… which equals 37.6-9.9-11.3 on .522/.400/.849 shooting splits.

Meanwhile, Dallas is 2-5 with a 126 defensive rating, which is good for DFL, 3.5 points behind the Wizards, who haven’t won a game since Jan. 29.

The Mavs are currently an 8-seed, one season after missing the play-in. 

• They have an expensive roster, an aging sidekick who hasn’t had a playoff moment since 2017, and an empty cupboard after trading two firsts this deadline for … PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford. 

Luka, conversely, has only two guaranteed years left on his deal. It doesn’t make sense for a projected all-time great to burn this many prime years, and it doesn’t make sense for Dallas to let him walk in 2026 for no return, which is why the Luka trade whispers might start soon.

2. Daily GIF: Wemby vs. Sengun = new Robinson vs. Olajuwon

Slight hyperbole, but, look at the GIF then look at this.

3. Trivia

4. Look at this fucking play-in race

Best-case scenario, A: The Kings overtake the Suns, which creates a play-in race of at least nine future Hall of Famers.

Best-case scenario, B: The Warriors and Lakers stay at 9 and 10, which guarantees one of them won’t make the playoffs, rendering months and months of talk show segments completely useless.

Quick hits

• If you’ve never seen a 7-foot-4 person block a shot, dribble up court and hit a stepback 3, here you go. 

• Isaiah Thomas is (sort of) back. 

• Stephen A. Smith takes on the ‘how would a dog wear pants?’ debate. 

• The latest ridiculous Nikola Jokic buzzer-beater is here. 

• The latest update on Bronny James’ draft situation makes as little sense as all the others. 

• The Celtics lost a wild game last night, in which Dean Wade outscored Boston by himself in the fourth quarter.

Reads

• The wait and weight for Bronny James [The Ringer]

• Meet the 20-year-old filmmaker behind the Celtics’ viral social media videos [Celtics Blog]

That's the buzzer.
Thanks for reading the 365th edition of The Grip.