Mavericks get the last laugh as Porzingis move to Celtics completely backfires

If a Dallas Mavericks fan from January of 2022 were to hop in a time machine and see the current rendition of this Mavericks team from top to bottom, they'd probably faint. Mark Cuban was still the head governor of the organization, fans were extremely skeptical of Jason Kidd and Nico Harrison, granted it was their first season in Dallas, and the Mavericks' best three players were Luka Doncic, Jalen Brunson, and Kristaps Porzingis.

While no one can predict the future, almost any Mavericks fan from back then would say with full certainty that Dallas would keep at least two of those three players by now, especially after Brunson's 2022 playoff run that helped put him in the spotlight. Following the Doncic trade, though, all three of those guys are completely gone from Dallas, and many fans will never forgive the organization and Harrison for losing two bona fide All-NBA players so quickly.

However, one won't hear many Mavericks fans complaining over Porzingis' departure from Dallas, even though Porzingis got the ultimate revenge against the Mavericks after winning the NBA Finals with the Boston Celtics in 2024. Due to Celtics' superstar Jayson Tatum suffering a torn Achilles, Boston was forced to make cost-cutting moves this summer to avoid going into the second apron, as they couldn't bare to afford such a hefty roster when they almost certainly won't be contenders next season, and Porzingis was one of the first victims of this approach on Boston's roster.

Porzingis getting traded to Atlanta gives Dallas the last laugh

The consensus after Dallas' Porzingis trade in 2022 was that Dallas won the trade, as Spencer Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans gave a needed boost to Dallas' offense and aided in the 2022 playoff run. However, following what was probably the most efficient season of his career on both sides of the ball through 65 games played with the Washington Wizards in the 2022-23 season, Porzingis' stock elevated tremendously, and the Celtics traded for him that following summer in a three-team deal.

Because of a calf strain that caused him to miss the middle two rounds of the 2024 NBA Playoffs, many Mavericks fans were thinking Porzingis would be a shell of himself in the Finals, as Mavericks fans' last memory of him was when he was infamously relegated to the corner for large stretches of Dallas' 2021 first round matchup versus the LA Clippers, as Rick Carlisle didn't trust Porzingis' decision making offensively and saw him get bullied by shorter wings when he was posting up in that series often.

However, Porzingis got his ultimate revenge versus the Mavericks, as he added muscle over the last few seasons and fully embraced his role for the Celtics. Even though Porzingis only played in three games during the 2024 Finals, he crashed the glass hard, rolled hard, took smaller defenders in the post, protected the rim, shot well from outside, and Dallas struggled to deal with his size.

Mavericks fans were left with an extremely bitter taste in their mouth following Porzingis' performance in the Finals, but many fans weren't reluctant to give Porzingis his props for the personal growth he underwent in his game. Fast forwarding to now, Porzingis is poised to be the starting center for a very intriguing and deep Atlanta Hawks trade next season.

Injuries have always been a crutch on Porzingis' career, but he's in the best shape of his career from a strength perspective right now, so his ceiling and the Hawks' ceiling next season will largely be dictated by how much he can stay on the court. By no means is Atlanta a bad situation for Porzingis, but with the misfortune of having to be stripped from a team that looked like a perennial contender before Tatum's injury, the Mavericks are getting the last laugh here.

With Porzingis already having been traded twice since being traded from Dallas now, there's really no more Mavericks tie-in for how his career fares going forward, and this trade to Atlanta is only relevant because of Porzingis cashing in on his ultimate shot at revenge versus the Mavericks in 2024. Many Mavericks fans still won't regret the organization's decision to break up him and Doncic in 2022, especially since injuries and playstyle preferences prevented that duo from ever coming close to their peak, but fans can at least rejoice that Porzingis and the Mavericks are in entirely different situations now.