During a recent interview, longtime Dallas Mavericks GM Donnie Nelson spoke out on the franchise parting with Luka Doncic midway through last season.

It's been months since the Dallas Mavericks shocked the NBA world by trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. Even so, that's a wound that's not going to heal any time soon in Dallas, not even after landing Duke star Cooper Flagg.

Irving had to deal with the after-effects of the Luka Doncic trade, doing his part to keep the Mavericks on the right path before going down with a season-ending ACL injury in March. A year after leading Dallas to the finals, Irving was forced to watch from the sidelines as his team was eliminated in the NBA play-in.