Mavericks: Ranking Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis among NBA’s best duos

Where to rank Dallas Mavericks duo? A look outside the top five

Starting this exercise is a bit difficult because two of the NBA’s best duo played exactly zero minutes on the court together this season.

The Warriors coming off three titles in the last five years were without Klay Thompson for the entire year. His backcourt partner Stephen Curry was limited to just five games. Curry and Thompson will return as one of the top duos next season but did not play enough to make this list.

The Nets have a new star duo of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Durant missed the entire campaign after tearing his Achilles, though. Irving was limited to 20 games and is now recovering from season-ending shoulder surgery. Again, this duo did not play enough to be included on the list.

The cuts were difficult from there. The NBA is littered with star duos. Just missing the top five were Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray. The Nuggets have one of the top young pairs in the NBA. It is impossible to discount Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid or Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. The Celtics’ new duo of Jayson Tatum and Kemba Walker are also rising up the list quickly. Rounding out the top ten would be Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert.

All five listed just missed the cut. Let us jump into the top five.