The Dallas Mavericks — beleaguered and thinned out — refuse to roll over. Amid a crisis-level PR disaster, a decimated frontline, and massive minutes for Kyrie Irving — they keep on fighting.
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The schedule pushes forward regardless and now Dallas faces a revamped Golden State Warriors team that is suddenly surging.
Who starts at center?
If you were the head coach of the Mavericks and it was time to put tonight’s starting lineup together, who would you start at the five? Your first several choices are off the table. Dereck Lively II is out until April, Daniel Gafford is out for at least two weeks, Dwight Powell has no current timeline, PJ Washington is unlikely to return until after the All-Star break, and worst of all newly acquired Anthony Davis is out indefinitely — and may well not play his second game for Dallas until next season.
This leaves no good options for Jason Kidd. Two-way Center Kylor Kelley is the best bet to get the nod but starting and playing meaningful minutes are two different things entirely. Expect to see a pair of 6’7 forwards in Kessler Edwards and Olivier-Maxence Prosper get the bulk of the minutes at the crux of the Maverick defense. Neither is a center you may say, and you’d be right. This is just where Dallas sits having constructed and hung their hat on an elite front line only to see the entire group on the shelf at the same time. You would almost think karma was at play.
The chef gets a Butler
Make no mistake, Jimmy Butler's desired destination for weeks (if not longer) was always Phoenix. He went as far as to tell Golden State (via his agent) not to trade for him as he would not resign there. Something funny happened on the way to the trade deadline, Bradley Beal’s no-trade clause mucked up the best-laid plans of Butler and the various teams attempting to find a way to make the moving parts fit.
Faced with dwindling time and options, Butler relented and now finds himself a Golden State Warrior. So far, it's all smiles and winning by the bay. Butler gives Curry a release valve that opposing defenses must respect. The Warriors now have an elite driver and free-throw merchant to complement Curry’s above-the-arc prowess. Add in the emergence of big-man Quinten Post and the Warriors will be throwing a different look at Dallas than when they last met.
The lesson of the released spring
During the episode of After Dark that followed the Mavericks' one-point overtime heartbreaker of a loss to the Kings, our Josh Bowe lamented that he had to address the topic that had Mavericks nation ablaze. Multiple fan ejections instead of the game itself were all anyone was talking about. It feels like getting back to pure basketball talk is a million miles away.
Will there be further drama at tonight’s game? Possibly. The notion that fans will stop wearing their jerseys backward, smuggling in Fire Nico signs, or faking out the fan cam during karaoke anytime soon is moot. This city seems to only be getting madder with each bit of injury news, tone-deaf front office interview, and painful visual from Staples Center.
The best advice for this front office under duress — not that they deserve it nor will listen to it — comes straight from my childhood. When you allow a spring to release gradually, it often stays in your palm. Suppress it too long, your hand will tire eventually and the spring will launch. Already lifelong fans are leaving the fanbase in droves without any clear path to win them back. The wretched images of escorting fans out of the arena for simply venting their frustrations in a non-vulgar way is not the path to healing this rift. The best course is to let fans get it out of their system but don’t expect arena policies to lighten up. This is who the Dallas Mavericks are in 2025.
Maybe this franchise has already jumped the shark, past the Rubicon, etc. I lived through basketball wilderness in the 90s here in Dallas. Many in the fanbase have never known that desolation. I fear the Mavericks — in 10 days — have fast-tracked this franchise toward irrelevance. I hope like hell I am wrong.
