On Saturday, the Dallas Mavericks held their end-of-season press conference. According to Daniel Gafford, who was among the players who spoke to reporters on Saturday, the team also held an end-of-season meeting. Gafford revealed the Mavs discussed a number of topics in the meeting, including the shocking Luka Doncic trade.
“Pretty much the usual,” Gafford said of the general message of the meeting. “Season, of course, didn't go the way we wanted it to. Had a lot of adversity. Deal with a lot of injuries. Of course, the elephant in the room, the trade. Talked about stuff like that. And then just, you know, mindset of coming back next year and just being better. That's the main thing. Being better in health. Being better in mental, emotionally, all of the above, for sure.”
The Mavs certainly dealt with adversity throughout the season. Even before the Luka Doncic trade, Dallas was dealing with plenty of injury concerns. In fact, Doncic was among the injured Mavs.
Related Dallas Mavericks NewsArticle continues below
After the trade, Anthony Davis went down with an injury in his first game with the team. Kyrie Irving suffered a season-ending injury a few weeks later.
To the Mavs' credit, they continued to fight and earned a spot in the NBA Play-In Tournament as the No. 10 seed. They upset the No. 9 Kings in Sacramento in the first game of the tournament, but the No. 8 Grizzlies defeated them on Friday in Memphis.
With the 2024-25 season now officially concluded for Dallas, the players will use the offseason as a much-needed reset. Between the injuries and the trade, this past campaign presented no shortage of challenges. Every team that struggles has adversity, but this specific Mavs team dealt with added challenges to say the least.
If the Mavericks can stay healthy, they could make serious noise next season once Kyrie Irving returns from his injury. For now, Dallas will focus on hitting the reset button as the players and coaching staff prepare for a much-needed break.
