Introduction to the Mavericks’ Current Situation
The Dallas Mavericks are currently sitting in last place in the Western Conference. They have had a string of disappointing losses, including being the only team to lose to the Washington Wizards at home. Additionally, they were the second team to lose to the New Orleans Pelicans, who were playing a back-to-back after traveling to Dallas without Zion Williamson.
It’s one thing for the Mavericks to get beat up by Victor Wembanyama in front of the home crowd. It’s another when Saddiq Bey takes you down with 22 and 9. The Mavericks would have anticipated bumps in the road while waiting for Kyrie Irving to recover from his latest knee injury, but the gift of Cooper Flagg falling into their lap was supposed to mitigate that.
The Current State of the Team
Instead, the team is into another season of waiting — patiently on the part of management, it seems — for this notion of a three-headed center to dominate opponents in the paint. Waiting because Anthony Davis is hurt (again) and Daniel Gafford has been hurt (again) and young Dereck Lively II is out (again). This is unofficially Year 2 of the 3-to-4 Year Championship Window the Mavs took on (if you believe this) when they dealt Luka Doncic to the Lakers.
I don’t need to remind you how Year 1 went with both Davis and Irving suffering significant injuries in early 2025, the unfortunate but almost entirely predictable setbacks that allowed the Mavericks to even compete in the lottery which, shockingly with a 1.8% chance, they won. And Year 2 is not going well. The Mavs were gifted by the schedule-makers with 14 of their first 18 games at home.
Performance and Statistics
It was an opportunity to make some early noise in the West, to herald the arrival of Flagg, to put one man’s expressions of “Defense Wins Championships” on full display with the defensively-challenged Luka no longer here to be attacked at that end of the floor. And, in fact, Dallas ranks eighth in points allowed this season, which would seem a good starting point if not for … everything else about this team. At 106.3 points per game, the Mavericks are dead last in scoring.
In a league that has gone full up-tempo, led — oddly enough — by a coach named Rick Carlisle, the Mavericks play slow. And they struggle to score. Didn’t even reach 100 against the Pelicans. To understand what has happened to the game in just the last decade, when Golden State won its first title in 40 years back in 2015, the Warriors revolutionized the game with their 3-point shooting and scoring.
Comparison to Other Teams
They were the only team to average 110 points. Half the league averaged below 100. This season there are nine teams scoring 120 or more per game and a full 21 teams averaging 115-plus. Dallas lags far behind and does so, in part, because one of those shooters who helped change the world with the Warriors, Klay Thompson, is hitting 34% from the field and 29% from 3-point range.
Head coach Jason Kidd moved him to the bench the last game, and he actually delivered a spark from that position, but to expect the return of Prime Klay is to expect Davis to come back from his latest calf injury to dominate the league on defense. Davis, 32, is in his 14th season. He has missed 259 regular-season games going into Friday’s contest at Memphis.
Fans’ Reactions and Expectations
Irving, 33, came into the league a year earlier than Davis. You build a team around these two former stars at an incredible risk while the rest of the West looks young and long and athletic. It’s bad enough that after the most recent home loss, Flagg said, “For me, it’s the most I’ve lost since, you know … I think ever.” Yes, Duke was 33-4 last season. Long drop to 2-6.
Meanwhile, fans can’t help noticing Luka averaging 40 (yes, 40) points per game for a Lakers team that is second in the Western Conference without a single minute played from LeBron James. What does a team do to win back the fans in this situation? Here is what the Mavericks’ new ownership has come up with so far.
Ownership’s Response
- Extend Jason Kidd’s contract. It may sound funny, but Kidd would be coaching the New York Knicks if Dallas had let him interview there this past summer. We saw what he could do with a young superstar on the floor. He’s still trying to figure out how these pieces fit, if, in fact, this puzzle is solvable.
- Announce a Mark Aguirre jersey retirement night. This is a night no one was clamoring for. It’s not an entirely bad idea, but it’s odd to think four players from a team that made one Western Conference finals trip in 1988 are going to be honored up there in the rafters with their jersey hanging next to Dirk’s, who remains all alone from the championship team.
- Sue the hockey team. The most curious of the Mavs’ recent acts, maybe it’s just to remind us that, even with a bad record on a team built for the 20th century NBA, they can still bully the other team at the AAC that actually makes deep playoff runs each spring.
It’s almost as if the Mavs’ new ownership is clutching at straws, reaching out for help as to what might get fans back on their side if this “Defense Wins Championships” plan is going to be a total disaster. I’d feel silly having to spell it out for Dumont, so I’ll just tell him what it rhymes with and let him take it from there. Hire Rico. Someone will have to rebuild this team around Flagg the next 2-3 years. It can’t be the architect who got them into this mess.
Dallas’ latest loss was more grisly to watch in person than the final score indicated.
The Mavericks ruled Gafford out of the game in the fourth quarter.
