The Mavericks’ recent woes are the Knicks’ gain.
The Knicks don’t want Dallas’ slide to go too far, however.
As the final piece of the two teams’ blockbuster Kristaps Porzingis trade in 2019, the Knicks own the rights to the Mavericks’ first-round pick this year.
As of Saturday morning, the Mavericks had the 11th-best lottery odds, with a 1.5 percent chance of getting the No. 1 pick and 7.1 percent chance of getting a top-four pick, per Tankathon.
Dallas is 7-12 since they acquired Kyrie Irving from the Nets, which includes a lowly 3-7 record when Irving and Luka Doncic both start.
Dallas’ woes hit a new-low Friday night in their 117-109 loss to the Hornets.
Fans booed the team loudly in the third quarter, and head coach Jason Kidd described his team’s effort as “dogsh–t” after the loss.
The Mavericks have fallen to a 36-38 record and out of the playoff picture in 11th place in the Western Conference.
The pick owed to the Knicks is top-10 protected, however.
It has the protection for this year, 2024 and 2025, and if it does not convey within those three years, the Knicks receive a second-round pick.
The Knicks traded Porzingis to the Mavericks along with Courtney Lee, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Trey Burke in exchange for Dennis Smith Jr., DeAndre Jordan, Wesley Matthews and a 2021 first-round pick in addition to this year’s pick.
The Knicks traded the 2021 first-round pick, which was at No. 21 in the draft, to the Clippers for pick No. 25 and a future second-rounder. The Knicks selected Quentin Grimes with the No. 25 pick.
The Knicks are suffering through their own struggles, engulfed in a three-game skid to the Timberwolves, Heat and Magic.
They remain the No. 5 seed in the East but are now in peril of falling into the unwanted play-in tournament.
One of their most successful coaches doesn’t yet see a time to panic.
“A three-game sample is probably too small,” ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy told The Post in a phone interview Saturday morning. “Minnesota, you don’t want to undersell how well they played. They shot the heck out of the ball. I think [Taurean] Prince was 8-for-8 [on 3-pointers]. You can run into those things in the NBA where there’s outlier performances that just get you beat. And Miami is fighting for fifth, and they’re in a dogfight with the Knicks. They played a heck of a game, and [Jimmy] Butler is a tremendous closer. And then playing back-to-back in Orlando, [Jalen] Brunson didn’t play. They fought back, they had their chances, but Orlando is a pretty good team.
“There’s always challenges in this league, and I think the challenge for the Knicks is to try to get to the fifth spot, to give themselves the best chance.”
