The Dallas Mavericks may have failed to reach the playoffs in the past three seasons, but Mavs fans have a lot to be excited about in the 2019-20 NBA campaign.
The Mavs will parade one of the most promising duos in the league in Kristaps Porzingis and Luka Doncic. Doncic is coming off a strong rookie season, while Porzingis is expected to be ready for training camp after recovering from an ACL tear which he sustained when he was still with the New York Knicks.
Porzingis, who was acquired by Dallas in a trade before the deadline last season, will be a restricted free agent this summer. While other teams can tender an offer to the Latvian superstar, the Mavs have no intention of letting him walk away.
As Rick Carlise said on TV Station LETA during their Basketball Without Borders camp in Latvia, Dallas' priority is to keep Porzingis with the team in the long run.
“He’s a free agent on July 1,” Carlisle said, per Dwain Price of Mavs.com. “We have to get him re-signed and then he’ll have a program through the summer.”
Carlisle added that after re-signing Porzingis, their focus will be to get him full healthy and ready at the start of training camp.
“Right now it’s really about his health and getting him 100 percent healthy, 100 percent strong and preparing him for an entire NBA season,” Carlisle furthered. “He’s done an awful lot of work over the last two years since the injury.
“He’s worked really hard since coming to us in February, and so we feel like he’s going to be able to be 100 percent and be ready to go come training camp.”
Carlisle believes that Porzingis will be a great fit alongside Doncic, who played like a veteran in his first season in the league. While there are plenty of question marks on how Kristaps will perform after more than a year out, the Mavs are certainly have high hopes on the Latvian star.
