While not in injury purgatory anymore, the Dallas Mavericks are still feeling the side effects.
The Mavericks are among many teams affected by injuries, one of those being Kyrie Irving, who is expected to return from a torn ACL in January 2026. Despite this, on paper, they were expected to be a middle-of-the-pack team in a competitive Western Conference.
With the No. 1 overall draft pick, Cooper Flagg, on their roster, expectations were higher. But even with him, the team doesn’t inspire much confidence. On paper, they should have a strong defensive presence with Anthony Davis, Derek Lively, PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford as solid front-court pieces.
However, their 1-3 start shows some shakiness. As of Oct. 28, their defensive rating is 12th in the NBA — an improvement after trading Luka Doncic — and while defense can help win championships, offense is what wins games. That said, their offense is ranked near the bottom of the league in efficiency and looks disjointed.
One of their main issues is that they lack a true point guard, and many say it’s a disservice to Flagg that the Mavericks keep running him out there at point guard — a position he hasn’t played since high school. D’Angelo Russell, the de facto starting point guard until Kyrie returns, has not met expectations, with low shooting percentages, particularly from the perimeter.
Even during the play-in against the Kings last season, this offense was missing something: someone who could get the ball to their teammates. Strangely enough, that was Luka Doncic, because when you perform so well on offense, defensive lapses can be hidden. To defend the Mavericks, their first game was against Victor Wembenyama’s historic performance, facing the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder. They also lost to the Washington Wizards before beating the Toronto Raptors. What hurts more is that Doncic has been on a tear to start the season — through two games, he’s averaging 46 points on a 69% effective field goal percentage, with 62% from the field and 31.8% from three. range.
Aside from the immediate present, there’s also the future window. General Manager Nico Harrison described the future as, from the day of the trade, “three to four years.” If that’s the window for contention, using a three-year outlook, it’s often tough to compete while focusing on young talent — the Thunder managed it, but that core had grown up together.
The Denver Nuggets, as I wrote before, fired both their coach and general manager based on disagreements about contending with Nikola Jokic and developing young talent.
The New York Knicks opted to forgo that notion entirely last year, trading five first-round picks for Mikal Bridges. Their first-round draft pick, Pacome Dadiet, played the fewest minutes of any first-round pick that year.
Teams with prominent youth, like the Philadelphia 76ers (VJ Edgeconb, Tyreese Maxey, Jared McCain), Brooklyn Nets (Egor Demin, Nolan Traore, Danny Wolf) and Washington Wizards (Bub Carrington, Kyshawn George, Alex Sarr) are often towards the bottom of the league in power level.
To add salt to the wound, after 2027, the Mavericks only control two picks (2029 from the Lakers and 2031, their own); they do not control any of their picks due to swap rights and complex three-team deals.
The moves made sense when you had a generational star, but now, it’ll really bite them because they don’t inspire confidence to contend with the Thunder, Nuggets or really any team that would be an automatic playoff team. They have the potential to upgrade through the trade deadline, and since this is the beginning of the season, things are always subject to change. This upcoming month, they have a relatively middling schedule, going against teams like the Indiana Pacers, Detroit Pistons, Houston Rockets and the Pelicans.