Bill Simmons Has High Hopes for Dallas Mavericks

American journalist, author, and podcaster Bill Simmons has high hopes for the Dallas Mavericks ahead of the 2024-25 NBA season. Simmons, 55, hails from Marlborough, Massachusetts, and attended the College of the Holy Cross for a bachelor's degree in political science and Boston University for a master's degree in print journalism.

Simmons' statements sparked a conversation in the basketball world, as his namesake podcast "The Bill Simmons Podcast" on The Ringer is one of the most popular podcasts surrounding professional sports, including the NBA. Here's what Simmons said about the Mavericks.

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Bill Simmons Has High Hopes

Bill Simmons has high hopes for the Dallas Mavericks, as he had plenty of good things to say about the Mavericks. Simmons recently made his over/under predictions on wins for the 2024-25 NBA season following FanDuel's projection of the Mavericks at 50.5 wins this year.

Simmons and his co-hosts, Ryen Russillo and Joe House, made their predictions for the Mavericks' season based on FanDuel's projection. Simmons said on "The Bill Simmons Show" podcast, "They had a 28-9 stretch at some point before they hit the Finals, and I feel like that's the Dallas team we're getting ... I don't understand why this team wouldn't be at least a 52-30 team, and that's before we even get into the Luka Doncic MVP stuff."

Simmons' Co-Hosts Spoke Up

Bill Simmons' co-hosts, Ryen Russillo and Joe House, spoke about the Dallas Mavericks' upcoming season for 2024-25. Russillo stated on "The Bill Simmons Show" podcast, "I really like what they did. I love Naji Marshall...I even like the Quentin Grimes pickup...A full season of Daniel Gafford and PJ Washington, plus the Dereck Lively II combination there." Russillo added his reasoning was mostly based on the Western Conference.

House's response was similar to the Mavericks and even stated the team would go significantly over FanDuel's projected total of 50.5 wins. House responded on the podcast, "They're basically trading spots with Denver [and winning 57 games] ... I think they got better."

Final Thoughts About Dallas Mavericks

The final thoughts surrounding the Dallas Mavericks seemed to be centered on Mavericks star Point Guard Luka Doncic. Doncic finished in third place in the 2024 NBA MVP race, trailing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets.

Simmons said on his namesake podcast, "Luka is 33-9-9 [statistically] the last two seasons. He has 30.9 points per game in 50 playoff games, second only behind Michael Jordan. He's at 28.7 points per game for his career; only Jordan and Wilt [Chamberlain] are higher. He might have had the best six-season statistical start to a career since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar... [but he] has no MVPs. I think he wins the MVP this year, which is one of the reasons I'm going over [on win total]. I would pick Luka just because I find it hard to believe he's not going to win an MVP. He's too good."

Doncic can win the MVP next year, but we'll see what happens in the coming months. Doncic's Mavericks can prove Simmons, Russillo, and House right, but their future performances and games are in their hands. The Mavericks will open the regular season against the San Antonio Spurs on October 24 at 6:30 p.m. Central.

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Article originally written by Ana Kieu