DALLAS (105.3 The Fan) - Coming off of a disappointing playoff series loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, the Dallas Mavericks are facing a slew of hard questions heading into the offseason.
Chief among those questions for Dallas will be the team's plans for Luka Doncic's disgruntled co-star, Kristaps Porzingis, who, according to a report from ESPN's Tim MacMahon, feels like "an afterthought" in Rick Carlisle's offensive scheme.
Per MacMahon: "But Porzingis has been frustrated, often feeling more like an afterthought than a co-star as Doncic dominates the ball and the spotlight, sources told ESPN. Porzingis frequently made thinly veiled references during his postgame media availabilities, such as saying the "ball actually moved tonight" after high-scoring performances or stating that the offense didn't involve him on low-scoring nights."
Related
Porzingis, however, hasn't done much on his own to justify this claim of frustration, due to his inability to be a healthy and consistent sidekick to Doncic during either the regular season or the playoffs.
In fact, in two seasons with Dallas, Porzingis has played in just 100 of a possible 147 regular-season games and has underwhelmed on the offensive end as well, averaging just 20.1 points per game this season and 13.1 points per game in this year's playoffs.
To his credit, Porzingis did shoot a career-high on field goals in the 2020-21 season by a wide margin, hitting 47.6-percent from the field and 37.6-percent from three.
Related
That said, with a max deal in his pocket, those 20.1 one points per game would place him below role players such as Malcolm Brogdon (21.2 ppg), Terry Rozier (20.4 ppg), Khris Middleton (20.4 ppg), and Domantas Sabonis (20.3 ppg) in terms of scoring average -- All but one of which (Middleton) earned at least $9 million less than Porzingis in 2020-21.
However, thanks to his inability to stay on the stay on the floor, and develop that chemistry with Doncic, Porzingis did not qualify to be listed among the NBA's scoring average leaders list.
Porzingis' salary will only go up from here as well, with the 25-year-old set to make $31,650,600 in 2021-22, $33,833,400 in 2022-23, and $36,016,200 in 2023-24 -- every cent of which is guaranteed.