Seeing DFS in purple and gold hurts your soul.
These feel like dark times for the Mavs fandom. The mood is grim even if the calendar says there is time to recover and position for a deep post-season run. Already shell-shocked by the weeks-long absence of Luka Doncic, the Dallas fanbase is now wrapping their collective minds around the news that Kyrie Irving will be sidelined for 1-2 weeks due to a disc issue in his lower back. For those of you counting along at home, that’s over 80 million dollars of elite backcourt play now sidelined. As Leonard “Bones” McCoy tells Kirk in The Wrath of Khan, “never rains, but it pours”.
No one is going to feel sorry for Dallas
One of the remarkable things about the stretch between the Washington and Gafford acquisitions and the Luka Doncic injury that kept Dallas from being at full strength in the playoffs was how remarkably fortunate Dallas remained for several weeks as the team galvanized around their new defensive identity. That luck has not carried over to this season.
It is admittedly a trite axiom, yet the best ability is availability. Continuity and chemistry require players to be on the floor together and knowing the full Dallas roster will not be in unison is demoralizing. Yet the schedule grinds on and the Mavericks face a quick turnaround to face a reinforced Lakers team who will look to capitalize on a wounded foe. A win here would be a huge victory for the Mavericks who are dropping in the standings like a proverbial millstone.
An old friend comes back to Dallas, not as hoped.
If the sight of fan-favorite Dorian Finney-Smith in a Nets uniform never felt quite right, the universe just said ‘hold my beer’ and has given us DFS in purple and gold.
Bringing Dorian Finney-Smith back to Dallas was the buzz of the trade-machine-idea cottage industry as many voices pontificated on how great it would be to see Finney-Smith back in Mavericks blue. Then, the Lakers stepped up and snagged him – jettisoning D’Angelo Russell back to Brooklyn in the move.
Does this make the Lakers contenders? Most likely not. This is the sort of trade you make to appease your aging legend so that he will be a bit happier to play out the season. While it may not vault the Lakers, it does remove one viable trade option for Dallas to plug their most glaring need.
That “most glaring need” feels far down on the priority list right now as the cruelest injury and illness luck Dallas has experienced in recent memory continues to change the calculus. Instead of shopping for the perfect backup power forward, one must wonder if the extended absences of Doncic and Irving have shifted the nature and scope of the conversations Nico Harrison is having with his counterparts around the league.
Youth Movement
The second night of a back-to-back is often deemed a “scheduled loss” and Dallas has bucked that trend in the last 18 months winning more than their fair share of these games. With a 9-5 record last year and starting 4-2 this season, Dallas has shown plenty of moxie in the second-game scenario. But this scenario is altogether different.
Jason Kidd on Daniel Gafford’s ankle injury: “Sprained ankle, I think it is. We’ll see how he feels. He’s probably going to be out for some time.”
— Grant Afseth (@GrantAfseth) January 7, 2025
The last thing this team needs is another injury – but news broke in the postgame presser that Daniel Gafford will miss extended time. Expect Jason Kidd to extend the rotation in this game to include more court time for players like OMax Prosper, Brandon Williams, and Jazian Gortman. What better time to get these kids some experience than when the walls are caving in around Mavs-land. Good Grief…and Go Mavs.