Truthful Middleton debuts for Mavs, dissects trade fallout and embracing Dallas' uncertain future with rising star Cooper Flagg.
Khris Middleton's been around too long to bother sugarcoating it.
As he is set to debut with his new Dallas Mavs teammates on Tuesday night in Phoenix, he's speaking frankly about the after-effects of the Anthony Davis trade to Washington that brings him here, about the one major positive in Dallas and about the realities of transitioning into playing for a poor Mavs team.
Dallas enters the matchup at Phoenix with a record of 19–33 while sitting 12th in the Western Conference. ... with the idea of "Organic Tanking'' © on the way to a better lottery-pick chance on the minds of many.
“Just trying to get situated, trying to get things in order,” Middleton said after he experienced his first full practice with the Mavs on Monday in Phoenix. “A lot going on when you get traded at the deadline, but that’s the business we’re in.”
Indeed, the moving parts are many. And the realities are clear.
“A team trying to figure it out,” Middleton said when asked how he would characterize the Mavs at this moment. “After everything that happened last year, they’re reshifting and figuring out the future.''
The "everything that happened'' is of course the disastrous Luka Doncic trade to the Lakers.
The "future''? Middleton has a take on that, too.
“He’s a beast,” Middleton said of Dallas' teenage sensation, Cooper Flagg. “He’s been playing extremely well all year. ... I think everybody believes he’s the real deal, and he’s someone you’re going to be working with for a very long time.”
Middleton comes here averaging 10.3 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 3.3 assists in 34 games this season with Washington ... and with a resume over a 13-year career that includes three All-Star appearances and a 2021 NBA championship.
He holds career averages of 16.4 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 3.9 assists across 810 regular-season games. ... and all of this might mesh quickly due to the presence of head coach Jason Kidd, who coached him years ago in Milwaukee.
“That always helps — having someone you have a relationship with, someone you’ve been through fire with,” Middleton said. “I’m excited to work with them again.”
The Mavs at play at the 31-22 Suns in an 8 p.m. CT tipoff.