The Whiteboard: Mavs new Luka Doncic plan, James Harden trade grades

The Dallas Mavericks offense is absolutely cooking right now. After Monday night's 125-110 win over the Memphis Grizzlies, they're now averaging 121.3 points per 100 possessions — that's tops in the league, and several points ahead of the Sacramento Kings' record-setting mark from last season.

Unsurprisingly, Luka Doncic has a lot to do with it. He's been borderline unbelievable through their first the games, even by his own lofty standards. He's averaging 1.67 points per possession on isolations, hitting an insane 20-of-38 (including 16-of-30 from beyond the arc) on pull-up jumpers, shooting 64 percent within eight feet of the basket and tied with Devin Booker for third in the league in points created by assist per game.

The Mavs are also playing very differently on offense, in a style they've hesitated to use in the past in part because it hasn't seemed to work as well for Doncic.

The Mavericks are finally pushing the ball

Through three games, the avergae offensive possession for the Mavs has lasted 14.0 seconds, 12th in the league and nearly a second-and-a-half shorter than last year, when they averaged 15.2 seasons, dead last in the league. In particular they've sped up their offense by nearly two secondson average after a made shot — 16.0 seconds, third in the league this year, compared to 17.7 seconds, 24th in the league last season.

Doncic carries so much offensive responsibility and takes so much wear and tear from aggressive defenders. Because he was already so efficient in the halfcourt, the Mavs never needed him to push to make their offense work and figured that fewer trips up and down the court and fewer opportunities for defenders to get into his body might keep him fresher in the long run.

That has never really worked out as intended, as injuries and fatigue have always seemed to take their toll over the course of the season but the Mavs may have found a different strategy for keeping him fresh and their offense humming.

Here's a fairly typical offensive possession for Doncic from last season — fighting through off-ball screens to beat the ball denial, then driving into traffic late in the clock, taking multiple hits on his way to the basket.

We're still seeing plenty of that, but also a lot more of this — taking the ball right out of the basket, moving with purpose and attacking quickly.

Obviously, this particular example is made unbelievably easy by a Grizzlies defensive miscommunication but it's part of a trend. The Mavericks are simply moving into their offense more quickly.

One of the other obvious upshots of this is making offense easier for everyone else. The Mavericks are averaging 125.3 points per 100 possessions without Doncic on the floor and those offensive possessions have lasted, on average, just 14.1 seconds. Those are marked differences from last season when the Mavs averaged 113.7 points per 100 possessions with the average offensive possession lasting 15.5 seconds.

It remains to be seen what long-term effect this will have on Doncic as the season goes along but it's worth noting that the wear-and-tear of more possessions at a faster pace is functionally different from the wear-and-tear of fewer but more contact-heavy, grind-it-out halfcourt possessions.

But regardless, this is a change for the Mavericks. Luka Doncic is so good at making the incredibly difficult look incredibly easy, the Mavs have never really needed to figure out how to make things easier for him. In that context, trying anything new is a positive sign.

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The James Harden trade is finally done

After weeks of sound and fury, signifying nothing, the James Harden trade is finally done. In the early hours of Tuesday morning, the 76ers finally agreed to send him to the Clippers, along with P.J. Tucker and Filip Petrusev, for Marcus Morris, Robert Covington, Nic Batum and KJ Martin. The Clippers are also sending the 76ers 2026 and 2028 first-round picks, two second-round picks and a 2029 pick swap. The 2026 first-round pick comes from the Thunder, and was acquired by the Clippers in exchange for a 2027 pick swap.

In the end, the 76ers did not get Terance Mann but ended up with several wings who could contribute and some additional draft assets they could use in an additional deal at the deadline.

An ultimate grade for the 76ers depends on what other deals they're able to make but right now, this looks like a C+. They did the best they could in a situation with almost now leverage but essentially traded an (admittedly flawed) All-Star level player for a quartet of role players, only one or two of whom will actually see minutes because of the pieces already on the roster.

For the Clippers, I'll call this a B-. They get the best player in the trade but the fit is incredibly wonky, it makes Russell Westbrook redundant and they gave up a lot of depth at their most injury-vulnerable positions. They needed to do something to make the most of what time they left with Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, but I don't think this really brings them any closer to a title.

READ MORE:

• Will the James Harden Trade Be a Win-Win or an Era-Ending Domino?
  by Seerat Sohi, for The Ringer
• Ranking the 5 NBA stars most likely to be traded after James Harden by Zachary Rotman, for FanSided
• NBA trade grades: Breaking down James Harden to the LA Clippers by Kevin Pelton, for ESPN ($)

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