The end of the Dallas Mavericks’ season marks the beginning for a few

DALLAS — ONCE AGAIN, the Dallas Mavericks changed plans during a bizarre final week of what Luka Doncic described as “a very disappointing season.”

A few days after declaring he’d play so long as the Mavs had even the slimmest of postseason hopes, the franchise announced Doncic would sit out after playing the first quarter in Friday night’s home game against the Chicago Bulls, joining co-star Kyrie Irving and four other healthy core players on the bench.

Doncic had scored 11 points in the first quarter, chuckling with fellow European and foe Nikola Vucevic on several occasions, neither taking a game both franchises preferred to lose too seriously despite the fact that a loss would eliminate the Mavs from play-in contention.

But Doncic trotted back out onto the American Airlines Center court to open the second quarter. After going through the motions on a defensive possession, Doncic posted up on the right block, made a spin move and drove to the basket, pump-faking before laying the ball in for his 719th bucket of the season.

Seconds later, Doncic committed an intentional foul and checked out of the game, his season over, barring another sudden shift in the franchise’s strategy.

The intention was for Doncic to be showered with a standing ovation by the sellout crowd on “I Feel Slovenia” night as he walked off the court. That didn’t happen. Instead, there was a smattering of confused clapping.

It was an awkwardly fitting unofficial ending to a season in which nothing has unfolded as envisioned for the Mavericks, who took less than two months to morph from buzzing about a blockbuster trade — a risky win-now move considering Irving’s pending free agent status, among other factors — to blatantly tanking in the regular season’s final week.

The Mavs broke a tie with the Bulls in the lottery standings with the loss, standing alone with the 10th-best odds with one game remaining in the regular season. That’s a critically important distinction for…