Nothing has been easy for the Dallas Mavericks in the 2022-23 season. Despite making it all the way to the Western Conference Finals last season, the Mavs haven't been nearly as consistent this season, with their 25-24 record good for just sixth place in the West right now. It's safe to say it's been a strange season in Dallas to this point.
So far, the story of the season has revolved around Luka Doncic and his inability to get any sort of help. Doncic has been playing at an MVP-caliber level so far (33.8 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 8.6 APG, 49.8 FG%), and yet Dallas is just one game over .500 currently. It's clear to everyone that Doncic is going to need some help if the Mavs intend on making another deep playoff run this season.
Luckily, the trade deadline is still not upon us, so there's still time for the Mavs front office to shore up some of the holes on this roster. While there are a couple of different dream scenarios that exist for Dallas right now, there is one clear nightmare scenario that looms, so let's see what that scenario is, and why it could end up coming to fruition.
Mavs nightmare scenario for the trade deadline
It's easier to identify the areas where Dallas is set than where they need help at this point. They have some good depth players, but the top end talent on this roster is sorely lacking. Christian Wood's first season in Dallas has been rather confusing, and while he's a good player, he hasn't exactly met expectations this season. But he's the closest thing this team has to a secondary star behind Doncic.
Scoring is a big need for this team, but really anybody who can come in and take some of the burden off of Doncic's shoulders will be a welcome sight. Doncic is doing more than any other player in the NBA to lead his team to wins, but it's only resulted in a team barely hovering above .500 to this point.
The Mavs have been heavily involved in trade rumors, partly because everyone knows that they need help. But the front office doesn't seem to be in a huge rush to make any sort of moves at the deadline for whatever reason, making it abundantly clear that the nightmare scenario for the Mavericks at the trade deadline will come to life if the front office decides that they don't need to make any trades after all.
This would be a catastrophic outcome for several different reasons. For starters, the team clearly needs help. After losing Jalen Brunson in free agency, there hasn't been a consistent scoring option behind Doncic. That needs to be addressed one way or another at the trade deadline.
Beyond the team itself, the front office is already on thin ice for even allowing things to get to this point with this team. The Mavs have arguably the most talented player in the league in Doncic at their disposal, and to this point, they have shown a stunning lack of desire to build a championship contender around him. If you swap Doncic out for any other player in the league, there's a decent chance this team isn't even in line to make the Play-In Tournament right now.
Dallas is in a pretty dire situation, and they need to do something to fix that and prevent this from becoming a lost season. Building around a player as good as Doncic shouldn't be as hard as the Mavs are making it. They very nearly made it to the Finals last season after trading away their supposed second-best player in Kristaps Porzingis at the trade deadline, and they have done nothing to capitalize off of that momentum.
Standing pat at the deadline would obviously hurt the team, but it would destroy the public's faith in the front office to do what is needed to build a winner here. It's clear to everyone that upgrades are needed. Sitting out the trade deadline would be a terrible, terrible decision for several different reasons, and it's an obvious nightmare scenario for the Mavericks.
It doesn't really matter who they trade for, because all help is good help at this point. There are going to be players available at the deadline who the Mavs could certainly use that they can make a move for, and if they don't pull the trigger, there could be a lot of trouble for Dallas. So if you are a Mavs fan, you better hope some moves get made, otherwise, things could get ugly fast.
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