Mavericks' looming controversial dilemma would have driven Luka Doncic crazy

With exactly one month remaining in the Dallas Mavericks' season, their fate has still not been determined. Time is running out for the team to climb the standings, and they are dropping games left and right.

While it looked like Dallas would be a postseason lock this season, even after trading Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis, injuries have fully derailed their season and sent Jason Kidd's rotation into a whirlwind. The Mavericks are 2-8 in their last 10 games, and their chance of securing a top-six seed in the West is completely gone despite it looking like a major possibility just over a month ago.

If Dallas was to make the play-in, they would undoubtedly be the No. 9 or 10 seed, and even their chances of making that happen are up in the air. The Mavs have a tough decision to make over the next few weeks when it comes to how they approach the final few weeks of the season, with one of those options being tanking.

Dallas owns their first-round pick this summer, and they could decide to tank for the rest of the season to boost their lottery odds. They likely wouldn't be able to pass many teams in the lottery to begin with, as many teams ahead of them are actively tanking, but it may be the best plan to set them up for the future with all things considered.

Luka Doncic hates tanking, and history agrees

Tanking is something that Doncic would have despised if he were still on the Mavericks, and that dates back to the 2022-23 season. Dallas' first-round pick in the 2023 NBA Draft was top-10 protected that year, and they decided to tank to give them the best chance at keeping their pick.

Dallas' strategy ended up paying off, as they kept their pick and used it to trade down while landing Dereck Lively II. This move ended up paying off majorly, as Lively II was a key piece in Dallas' run to the NBA Finals, but that doesn't mean that Doncic was fully on board with the Mavs' decision to tank at the time.

The Mavericks still had a chance of making the Play-In Tournament when they decided to tank in 2023, and Doncic made his thoughts about the situation obvious.

"I didn't like the decision," Doncic said when asked about Dallas tanking at the end of the 2022-23 season. "That's it."

Doncic's championship mentality was always shown during his time in Dallas, and while he was involved in the Mavericks' decision to tank as both sides came to an agreement, it wasn't a move he would have made himself. He wants to fight as hard as he can, regardless of circumstance, and that's what makes him special.

While the likelihood of the Mavericks having to tank this season if Doncic were still on the roster is slim to none, it's still ironic that they could end up having to tank just over a month after trading him. Everything that could possibly go wrong this season for the Mavericks has, and Doncic is the one getting the last laugh in Los Angeles.

Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers are competing for a top-three seed while his former team could be contemplating tanking less than a year after making the Finals, and time will tell what the Mavericks decide to do over the next few weeks. While it looks like Davis and Lively II are on track to return at some point this season, it remains unseen if the Mavericks will bring them back. It may be in their best interest to not bring them back to avoid the risk of them getting re-injured, and Mavs fans may be in for a long final month of the season.