Where do the Dallas Mavericks go from here (lineup, trades, and more)?

The Dallas Mavericks have won three on their last five games and have spent a majority of their recent court time without star Luka Doncic. The team’s two recent loses were a beatdown from the Indiana Pacers and an overtime defeat to the Los Angeles Lakers.

So everything should be fine in Mark Cuban world right?

On the record sure, but if you take a deeper look at the box score there are bigger issues to examine.

Let’s first look at the numbers from the starters.

The Dallas Mavericks have had their share of recent success and failures when it comes to their starting lineup.

Over the past couple of games Kristaps Porzingis has been getting back to his old Knicks ways. Against the Los Angeles Lakers Wednesday he recorded a double double by putting up 23 points and 12 rebounds. The game before that he hit 43 percent of his shots against the Charlotte Hornets, a game in which Dallas won by 22 points.

Like KP, Jalen Brunson has stepped up his play. With Doncic out of the lineup, JB played much of the point guard over the past three games. During that time he has recorded 18, 13 and 25 points. Along with that he has been one or two assists away from a double double and has even hit over 40 percent of his attempts.

So it’s not a KP or Brunson problem. The real dilemma starts with shooting guard Reggie Bullock.

Bullock has almost vanished from his offensive game. In 20 minutes against the Lakers, he went 0-4 from the field and missed every attempted three pointer. It wasn’t just the LA game either. In  recent games against the Charlotte Hornets and Oklahoma City Thunder he became practically a non factor.

On Friday against the Pacers he missed two of his total shot attempts and Sunday against OKC he went 1-4 from behind the arc. Just this month alone his is hitting 27 percent of his threes and shooting 36 percent overall.

The big problem here is you can’t really move Tim Hardaway Jr. back into the starting lineup because if you do than that would degrade most of the team’s production from the bench.

However he isn’t the only starter struggling, center Dwight Powell has yet to find his niche.

In the team’s past two games he has recorded just two points on 1-3 shooting, while also snatching just five total rebounds.

It doesn’t help when two of the Mavs’ starters are failing to generate any sort of production.

Good news is on the horizon.

With Dallas players struggling, the group still has time to turn things around. You see December 15th became an important date this season as this marked the time when players who signed contracts this offseason could be traded. The list of potential options include Kemba Walker, Doug McDermott and Kelly Oubre.

This does not exclude players who have had their name thrown around such as Ben Simmons, Marvin Bagley, Jermi Grant and Myles Turner.

So where do the Mavs tie into all this?

You see the team has plenty of options. For example, Dallas could look to equip Doncic with some shooting help. Players like Eric Gordon and Buddy Hield would be excellent options to help improve the Mavericks’ three point woes. Other alternatives could include a trade for scorers like Kemba Walker and Caris Levert, all whom have the capability to create their own shots.

If Dallas really wants to go all in for any sort of big men, then they would need to use some of their assets to target quality choices like Myles Turner or Marvin Bagley.

The team must roll the dice if they really want to invest in a win now situation.

As is stands, the Mavs would be competing for a playoff spot in the play-in tournament if the season ended today.

We can only hope Cuban and company do the right thing before it’s too late.

• Published on 12/17/2021 at 13:45 PM
• Last updated at 12/17/2021 at 13:15 PM