CLEVELAND — About an hour before the Mavericks’ overtime loss Saturday night to the Cavaliers, 13-year-old Noam Dorfman and his dad, Lev, sat in the second row of the courtside seats in Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, just behind the basket where Dallas players warmed up.
They waited, hopefully, for Luka Doncic to appear.
He wasn’t even in Cleveland.
The Mavericks held Doncic out to afford him extra rest in their third set of two games in two nights in the last two weeks.
Noam’s birthday wish to see Doncic play and his handmade poster that revealed he’d traveled “5,958 miles just to see Luka”, magnified the NBA’s current issues with consistent superstar availability as teams use “load management” to balance health and playoff preparedness during a grueling 82-game season.
Leave it to Doncic to craftily pivot a debate with no clear solution into a heartwarming gesture.
A Mavericks communications staff member made contact with Lev during the game Saturday to extend Doncic’s invitation for the Dorfmans to be his guests with tickets to the team’s next game in the Midwest area, March 27 in Indianapolis.
Noam, already donning a royal blue No. 77 Mavericks jersey, will also be the recipient of a special package from his favorite player.
The make-up plans made Noam beam.
The Dorfmans live in Israel, but have relocated for a few months to the Cincinnati area for Lev’s work in pediatrics.
Noam wanted to see Doncic as his 13th birthday and Bar Mitzvah gift, so Lev booked a hotel and drove them to Cleveland for the weekend.
The NBA schedule had other ideas.
The Mavericks beat the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night in American Airlines Center, and their team charter flight didn’t take off for Cleveland until close to midnight. They arrived at the hotel with their luggage close to 4 a.m. local time.
Coach Jason Kidd said he, his assistants and the team’s medical staff remain in constant communication with players about their aches and how their bodies feel after games.
They also account for each players’ average minutes, recent patterns in playing time, the upcoming schedule and travel timing to map out nights off for their highest-usage players over the six-month, 82-game regular season.
That’s why they decided to leave Doncic back to rest a lingering right thigh strain for the first of this four-game road trip.
The team announced his absence after noon Saturday. They held out fellow starting guard Spencer Dinwiddie (right knee injury recovery after January 2021 ACL surgery), too.
Doncic also sat in the second half of the Mavericks’ condensed “double-header” on Dec. 10 in Chicago after playing a 9 p.m. tip against the Milwaukee Bucks in Dallas the night before.
“There could [also] be a time there is no back to back and we give him the day off or game off for rest or injury,” Kidd said of his superstar, who’s averaging a career-high 36.6 minutes a night and one of three players in the league to log a usage rate higher than 37% this season.
That breaks no NBA rules.
But the approach adds to the ongoing discussion about the demands of the season and how the league should balance player safety and health with satisfying fans and TV partners who pay to watch and broadcast games in which healthy stars don’t always participate.
This week, for example, the NBA fined the Brooklyn Nets $25,000 for failing to comply with rules regarding injury reporting when resting eight players — including superstars Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons — on the second night of a back to back against the Indiana Pacers.
The Miami Heat also received a $25,000 fine for violating injury reporting customs on a night All-Star Jimmy Butler sat out. Miami countered by listing every player on the daily injury report the following day.
The “load management” issue has lingered for the last decade since San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich sparked the practice to help extend the careers of Hall of Fame trio Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker.
The Spurs’ healthy scratches, in turn, spoiled big national TV matchups with little warning.
Though few argue against injury prevention and caution for superstar players, many wonder whether the NBA owes fans a better product and promise of availability as tickets, meals, parking and other game-day needs have become increasingly expensive.
Teams often don’t announce load management designations until a few hours before tipoff.
The Dorfmans on Saturday provided a tangible example of the conundrum — but hopefully not again.
The Mavericks’ March game against Indiana — Noam’s make-up date with Doncic — is also the second night of a back to back. But the contest before is an early afternoon tipoff in Charlotte, adding a few-hour cushion to the quick turnaround Doncic now has extra motivation to make.
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