Mavericks disrespected in Zach Lowe’s League Pass ranks

The Dallas Mavericks have arguably the most exciting player to watch in the NBA in Luka Doncic. The 22-year-old superstar can do it all. He is the trick shot master, and the Mavs star makes passes other NBA point guards can only dream about. Fans know every time they tune in to watch the Mavericks, Luka is going to get them out of their seats with an unbelievable play.

There are a ton of other intriguing storylines for the team this season. What impact will new head coach Jason Kidd have on the roster? Can he replicate Rick Carlisle’s success or even surpass it? Will Kristaps Porzingis return to his All-Star form? Does Jalen Brunson take another step forward? Those are just a small sampling of things to watch in Dallas.

ESPN’s Zach Lowe released the first part of his annual League Pass rankings on Oct. 12, and the Mavs landed surprisingly low. Here is a closer look.

Dallas Mavericks disrespected in Zach Lowe’s League Pass rankings

First a note on the rankings. Lowe bases them on how watchable is a team will be this season. He uses five criteria to determine where teams landed, and the Mavericks ended up 13th. Here is a look at why that was a mistake.

One of the five categories is star/highlight potential, and the Mavs should be a top-five team there, if not number one. Luka Doncic made this shot in a preseason game a few nights back, and something incredible like it happens nearly nightly in Dallas.

The 22-year-old guard should also have Dallas in the top five in "zeitgeist", another of Lowe’s ranking criteria. He is arguably the most popular player in the world, and fans around the globe stay up into the wee hours of the morning to watch him play.

Lowe also looks at style in his ranking, and the Mavericks adding Jason Kidd should have them high on the watch list. Nobody knows what style they are going to play for sure, but fans have already seen them ratcheting up the aggression. Dallas is going to let Luka do his thing on offense and attempt to create turnovers on D. What fan does not want to watch that?

Lowe also potentially underrated the Mavericks in a category he calls “League Pass minutia”. Dallas has arguably the best announcing team in the business with Mark Followill, Derek Harper, and Jeff “Skin’ Wade, and they have a fire new court that features the names of every player in franchise history. None of the other 29 teams can match that combo. Dallas could use some fresh jersey's, but fans should not sleep on their new looks for this season.

The Dallas Mavericks should unquestionably be a top ten team in the League Pass rankings for the 2021-2022 season. Superstar Luka Doncic is going to make a run at MVP as the team attempts to climb into title contention, and fans won’t want to miss one second of the action.