Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic. Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Former teammates Luka Doncic, Kristaps Porzingis win NBA Players of the Week

Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis never clicked as a duo. Separately, they're thriving.

Dallas traded away Porzingis and the more than $70M left on his contract last February. Porzingis averaged 20 points and 8.8 rebounds for Dallas, but he and Doncic both had better statistics playing without the other. 

The Mavericks essentially hit reset on finding a wingman for Doncic, trading Porzingis and letting Jalen Brunson go, and getting Christian Wood and his expiring contract instead.

Porzingis may have found a home with the Washington Wizards, who went 4-0 last week, led by KP's 24.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks. 

After a 10-game losing streak in December, the Wizards have rebounded to win five in a row, including blowout road wins over the Orlando Magic and the Milwaukee Bucks (who were resting their top three players). 

Washington has been winning with defense, anchored by Porzingis, and they've won the last three without Bradley Beal.

Doncic won his second straight Player of the Week award, after averaging 48.5 points, 10.7 assists, and 13 rebounds for the week, including a 60-point triple-double against the New York Knicks, where Doncic forced overtime by putting in his own intentional free throw miss.

Two games later, he repeated the same intentional miss trick to run out the clock in his 51-point game against the San Antonio Spurs.

Doncic is now leading the league with 34.3 points per game, and Dallas hasn't lost a game in two weeks. 

The Mavericks are on a seven-game win streak, though they're relying on heavy minutes from Doncic to do it — 39.7 minutes per game.

The workload might catch up to Doncic, but it's hard to worry when he's putting up 50+ points every other game. 

Maybe Doncic needs more help, but Porzingis wasn't the right fit. Sometimes two people just aren't meant to be together.

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