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DALLAS — Kris Dunn trapped Luka Doncic and wrestled the ball away from one of the game's most feared offensive threats. Later, Dunn spun around a screen and hit a teardrop floater.
Add in the now consistent drives into the paint, the improved jump shot, and the always elite perimeter defense, and it's easy to wonder: How was this guy available for a 10-day contract? How was he out of the league at all?
But to Dunn, the former No. 5 pick in the 2016 NBA draft, the answer really isn't a big mystery.
"Injuries, being young, immature and not understanding the game," Dunn said.
Not on that list: talent. That's something Utah Jazz fans have seen since Dunn arrived two weeks ago, immediately seizing a spot in Will Hardy's rotation with his knack for the ball and some surprising offensive moments, too.
In a career that Dunn describes as a "beautiful, ugly journey," it's been one of the beautiful chapters. Before now, though, the ugly parts were the easiest for the rest of the world to see.
"I've been to the G League, I've been waived, I've been traded, I've had injuries," Dunn said. "So I've kind of seen what the league and the business is about."
Dunn will be the first to admit things didn't work out how he — or anyone else — envisioned when he was drafted by Minnesota nearly seven years ago. He came out of Providence as an elite defensive guard with flashes of an offensive game. It wasn't hard to envision him becoming a top-tier point guard in the league.
Then, he didn't.
Some of that was due to injuries, no doubt. An MCL tear in his right knee forced him into three months of bed rest just as the COVID-19 pandemic was taking hold. He later needed arthroscopic surgery and also got a platelet-rich plasma injection in his right knee.
Some of it was also being on young teams. Dunn said he didn't really have a veteran on his squads to mentor him and show him how to be an NBA player.
"That's why I say my journey's been self made, kind of going through my own experiences," he said. "I had to take the bumps and bruises, but it made me the man I am today."
And some of that may have been bad timing. As Lauri Markkanen has shown again and again this season, sometimes players just need to be in the right situation to flourish. Markkanen was part of the rebuilding core in Chicago alongside Dunn — can the Jazz help another former Bulls player reshape the narrative of his career?
So far, the results are promising.
Dunn has long been known as a defensive ace. Even as he bounced around the league, he was always valued as a guy who would make elite scorers work. Hardy said it's easy to spot offensive athleticism — think Giannis Antetokounmpo's unstoppable drives or LeBron James' powerful dunks, or even Markkanen's ability to finish everything around the basket.
Defensive athleticism, though, can be a bit harder to spot; that's what Dunn has.
"His ability to get a low center of gravity, open up his hips, change direction, and has a long wingspan, coupled with defensive instincts from a mental standpoint," Hardy said. "He has a knack for the ball. It feels like in every game he knows how to play, where he's just taking them off from the person at the top of the key and that's not as easy to do as he makes it look."
The knock on him, however, has been that he's a bit one-dimensional. How valuable is a perimeter defender if they disappeared on the other end? He's done anything but disappear with the Jazz.
In six games with the Jazz, Dunn has averaged 12.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.3 assists. He's shooting nearly 44% from 3-point range and 58% on 2-point looks — percentages that blow away anything he's ever shot in the league before now; and his turnovers are down, too.
It's a small sample, yes, but all of that mirrors what he did in the G League this season.
"Over the summer, I did a lot of work with my jump shot," Dunn said. "I had a couple of teachers who I wouldn't say taught me but, like, I asked a couple questions back, and kind of took from them and put it into my own game."
Dunn picked the brains of former Atlanta Hawks teammates Trae Young, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Danilo Gallinari. He went back even further and got advice from former Providence teammates Bryce Cotton (the former Jazz guard who now is a three-time NBL MVP), LaDontae Henton and Ben Bentil.
"Offensively, he's looking better," Markkanen said. "He just fills the gap and gets to his spots, able to find guys. His jump shot's looking like he's been working on it; looks smooth. I'm happy to have him here."
And Dunn's happy to be back in the NBA. His second 10-day contract is up on March 14, but he's given the team plenty of reasons to keep him around for the rest of the season — and maybe longer.
"Whatever happens, happens," he said. "No matter what, I'm very appreciative of the Utah Jazz giving me this opportunity to showcase my game."
