Nobody does. AD now out a month he has his injury issues amd is a big man over 30 years old. That never ages well. I like AD but he is nearing the end of his prime because his body breakdown. Luka at 25 at a minimum males you competitive every year. And on top of it pissed your other star off kyrie. I dont see this ending well for the mavs.
The Mavs are basically playing without their big man. In their last game, they looked super vulnerable since they couldn’t protect the paint. With Gafford, Powell, Lively, and even Washington - out, AD was supposed to step up, but he's out too. Now, the Dalals' future depends on AD's health. If he gets injured, they pretty much have no shot at getting back to the finals.
I also saw the news that Gafford is out with a injury as well, and so with AD out for weeks, it's very hard to see how the Dallas are going to win with their big man getting injured one by one and worst case is that they might not even make it to the playoff. So yeah, I do not think that even with a healthy lineup, they can go back to the finals again because it was really Luka who carried them last year and now he is not with the team. I still remember them making a significant run prior to the playoff and they are in the contention for a play-in, but suddenly they win consecutively pushing them to 5th and 6th play and out of the dangerous play-in.
In the last game, they were lucky to keep up with the Kings but eventually fell behind because of their lack of big men. The Kings used both Sabonis and Valanciunas to dominate the paint. I think the Warriors might try the same tactic, even though they don't have bigs like the Kings, they know their weakness.