Dallas Did It

After years of scouring the market, Mark Cuban has finally found a true superstar running-mate for his face of the franchise, Luka Doncic. Following another Kyrie Irving trade demand and a threat to sit out the rest of the season if he wasn't moved, Dallas was able to swing the following deal for the 30-year-old All-Star guard 👇

Offensively, the fit between Luka and Kyrie is an obvious one. Kyrie might be the best off-ball scoring guard not named Stephen Curry, and next to Luka, he'll get the best looks of his career outside of playing next to James Harden for a handful of games in Brooklyn. For the second time in his career, Kyrie will be replacing Spencer Dinwiddie, and should give plenty of juice to a Mavs' second unit has struggled to tread water whenever Luka hits the bench 📋

• Mavs' net rating with Luka: +5.0 points per 100 possessions

• Mavs' net rating without Luka: -7.6 points per 100 possessions

Vegas has taken note of the Mavericks' new star power and has adjusted their Finals odds accordingly, with the Nets falling to +2200. Dallas now has the only duo averaging over 60 PPG combined in the league 😳

Defensively, the fit is less clear, especially with the Mavericks losing Dorian Finney-Smith, who is one of the more underrated and versatile 3-and-D wings in the league. He will certainly help shore up the Nets' perimeter defense, but the Mavs lack any real stoppers on the outside, or an interior force to clean things up

• Luka and Kyrie could be one of the best offensive pairings the second they step on the court, but the Mavs (already ranked 23rd in defense) have the potential to be one of the worst defenses in the NBA for the rest of the season 😏

Waiting on the Debut

Since Kyrie won't make his debut until Wednesday against the Clippers, Luka is still out with a heel injury, Christian Wood is questionable with a thumb problem and Maxi Kleber is out with a hamstring issue, tonight's Mavs team suiting up vs. Utah won't look like the ones that have earned a boost on the championship odds leaderboard

• Still, it should be interesting to see how they start to build out lineups after losing two key rotation players in preparation for when they do get to full health 🤞

And while the NBA world is abuzz from the Mavs' big move, their opponent is the team which made the best two trades since the end of last season. In addition to the crazy haul of draft picks they got from trading Rudy Gobert to the Timberwolves, the Jazz also made out like bandits in their deal with the Cavs for Donovan Mitchell 👇

Over the last two weeks, Utah has the 8th-best net rating in the league, in large part due to their newly-minted All-Star, Lauri Markkanen (good read on his story)

• In retrospect, it's hard to believe Markkanen was one of the smaller pieces in the Donovan Mitchell trade that was probably headlined by a boatload of draft capital. Even though Mitchell's playing the best basketball of his career, Markkanen's development makes the move a huge win for the Jazz, especially considering the context of Mitchell's trade demand

Here's how the book has tonight's action in Utah, with a rolling Jazz team matched up against a very shorthanded Dallas squad 👇

Mavs vs. Jazz Betting Preview (subject to change)

• Spread: Jazz -9

• Moneyline: Jazz -405 (bet $405, win $100), Mavs +320 (bet $100, win $320)

• Over/Under: 221

For My Parlay Gurus

We'll have to wait a few days to see Kyrie and Luka take the court together, but until then I'm fading Dallas. I also like the Bucks beating the Blazers in Portland - here's what I'm cooking up for tonight 👇

• Jazz -9 vs. Mavs: -110

• Bucks -4.5 @ Blazers: -110

$100 on this bet would win you $264 — if we hit, make sure you email [email protected] for a chance to win up to $100*. Many will enter, only some will win 😉

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