How can Dallas Mavericks avoid Kevin Durant situation with Luka Doncic?

Dallas Mavericks can avoid the Kevin Durant situation with Luka Doncic by limiting his power

The Nets handed the keys to their franchise over to Durant and Kyrie Irving when the superstar duo decided to come to Brooklyn in free agency in 2019. They reached the playoffs in their first season with KD and Kyrie playing a combined 20 games, but things went off the rails from there.

Durant pushed for Steve Nash to become the Nets' head coach, and he wanted the team to trade for James Harden. General manager Sean Marks and owner Joe Tsai hired Nash and traded a massive haul of draft picks to the Rockets for The Beard. KD, Kyrie, and Harden all dealt with injuries as they were knocked out in the second round of the playoffs by the eventual champion Bucks in 2021.

Things went further off the rails last season after Irving refused to get vaccinated. A local ordinance prevented him from playing in home games, so the Nets decision-makers agreed he could not be a part-time player and they forced him to sit out completely. Harden got frustrated and wanted to be traded to the Sixers. Kyrie came back midseason, but the drama in Brooklyn never died down.

The Mavericks consult Luka Doncic in their free agency decisions, but they must avoid giving him too much power. Luka does not want to run the team, which is a positive. The superstar making the roster decisions does not work. Think LeBron James in Los Angeles pushing for the Russell Westbrook trade. 

Kevin Durant now says it is him or Marks and Nash, and the Nets owner sided against the player as he looks to regain control of his franchise.