The Mavericks’ injury woes grew to almost laughable proportions on Sunday. During the fourth quarter of their loss to the Suns, coach Jason Kidd literally had no options on the bench, according to Eddie Sefko of Mavs.com.
Dwight Powell and Kessler Edwards banged heads during the third quarter and both required stitches. Edwards was able to return with 6:05 left in the fourth quarter. Point guard Brandon Williams pulled up just before the third-quarter buzzer and did not return due to left hamstring soreness. With Dante Exum on a minutes restriction, Kidd had to go with what he had left.
“Never seen this,” Kidd said. “Never been in a game that we could not take someone out to rest them because we had no one to put in. They were either in clothes or in the back getting stitches. It is what it is. We got to keep pushing forward.”
The Mavs had eight players ruled out prior to the game and they won’t be available on Monday when Dallas faces San Antonio. They’re not in a position to add anyone else due to financial restrictions, so they will be severely shorthanded.
“We’ll try to figure it out as we go. We can’t sign anybody and Duds (assistant coach Jared Dudley) costs too much,” Kidd quipped. “You got to laugh because if you don’t, this will drive you crazy.”
We have more on the Mavericks:
- Due to the depleted roster, Klay Thompson is receiving extra attention on the defensive end, Sefko notes. Thompson managed to score 20 points in the nine-point loss to Phoenix and has averaged 23 PPG over the last three games. “They’re going to take away Klay anyway,” Kidd said. “So just for the sake of the team, hopefully they don’t take away Klay and we can get some easy looks for him. But it’s a team game. We got to generate shots. Someone has to be able to touch the paint with the ball . . . and we got to be able to knock down open shots.”
- Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving‘s teammate with Brooklyn, expects the high-scoring guard to play at an All-Star level again after he recovers from his season-ending ACL injury. “Any human would be upset, pissed off. Curious as to why this happened. You go through those emotions. Then the faster you get over that, the faster your recovery will be,” Durant said, per Christian Clark of The Athletic (Twitter link). “Kyrie is a hard worker. He’s disciplined every single day — his regimen, his routine. That’s why he’s so great. He’s so great, I’m expecting him to come back and be the same Kyrie. Expecting him to come back and lead Dallas and be the same team they’ve always been. We all can’t wait to see him back on the floor.”
- In case you missed it, second-year forward Olivier-Maxence Prosper has a significant right wrist injury and is expected to require season-ending surgery. Get the details here.
So why are the Mavs not signing a couple 10 day contract to get through the season? Is the team that cheapo they don’t want to spend to help out their players?
I believe they’re not allowed too based on them only being ~$50k below the luxury task and the minimum for a 10-contract pays ~120k from what I read on ESPN’s article.
They subjected themselves to a hard cap based on various roster moves and are now about $51K from that hard cap. $51K is only enough to sign a four-day minimum-salary contract — a five-day contract would be worth about $60K.
Since a “four-day contract” isn’t something that can be signed until there are four days left in the season, they’re not allowed to sign anyone else until April 10.
Dooooooooooooooomed
I’m still learning the cap restrictions. I thought you could go over. As long as you are willing to pay the tax. But now you can’t go over the second apron, I believe. And you can only use the money you have under it. I think thats right. So in Dallas case. Either all the injuries. They should be given an exception. To at least field a team. Like two 10 day contracts.
Otherwise its like being punished twice.
Its crazy and Nico will absorb it all. At this point. It would seem tanking is best option. Especially with Kyrie out. There are some nice guards available in top 10. Dallas could strike gold. With a guy like ….
Boogie Fland, Kasparas Jakucionis are both serious PG talent. Plenty of guards will be available top 10-14. Harper should be gone. Jakucionis is long and more ready. Played in Europe. Still with plenty upside. Boogie is a big time talent. Smaller bit more raw. Plenty PG talent just might take longer.
Mavs need good news. Could come in the lottery.
Watched the Suns vs Mavs gm. I know Suns still working it out after TD deals. I see talent on that team. I guess they need to jell more for consistency. But they should be better than they are. There are too many SG on this team. Not a good mix when half your rotation are all SGs. Maybe they come together for playoffs. Considering all the talk about KD leaving. Or breaking up this team. You wonder if they’ll even care to make a run for or in playoffs.