{"id":703433,"date":"2026-04-07T14:30:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T14:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/703433\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T14:30:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T14:30:21","slug":"mavericks-are-running-out-of-time-to-fix-this-franchise-altering-mistake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/703433\/","title":{"rendered":"Mavericks are running out of time to fix this franchise-altering mistake"},"content":{"rendered":"

The writing has been on the wall for a while now, but a tendency to delay the inevitable has left the Dallas Mavericks in an increasingly difficult spot. With just four games remaining, Dallas sits eighth in the draft order, now trailing the Memphis Grizzlies and New Orleans Pelicans, who have dropped five and eight straight games, respectively.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what makes the current approach so puzzling. Even if the Mavericks haven\u2019t fully committed to it, the path forward is clear: the tank should already be in full motion.<\/p>\n

The Mavericks\u2019 missed opportunity<\/p>\n

Yet, rewind a week ago, and the Grizzlies and Pelicans were each at least a full game ahead of the Mavericks. Since then, amid a questionable push to remain competitive, buoyed by unexpected Herculean efforts from Cooper Flagg<\/a>, Dallas has only worsened its draft position.<\/p>\n

This has come as Memphis has prioritized minutes for players like Adama Bal, Lucas Williamson, and Toby Okani (no, those aren\u2019t made-up names), while New Orleans has just been bad. The pick isn\u2019t even theirs \u2014 it was dealt to the Atlanta Hawks in last year\u2019s draft, so it\u2019s not as if the Pelicans have any incentive to lose. Regardless, both situations are hurting Dallas\u2019 chances of landing a future star.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the catch: the Mavericks didn\u2019t have to be in this position. The Pelicans could have kept losing without consequence if Dallas had embraced what it should have weeks ago<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Competitiveness has backfired in Dallas<\/p>\n

Of course, tanking isn\u2019t always as simple as it sounds. The Mavericks can\u2019t just manufacture injuries (even if it sometimes feels like that\u2019s part of the modern tanking playbook). But there are subtler ways to go about it. There\u2019s no penalty for limiting Flagg to 25 minutes, or scaling back Naji Marshall to 15 while giving those extra reps to a two-way player like Tyler Smith.<\/p>\n

There are levels to this, some newly uncovered, as teams like the aforementioned Grizzlies have shown \u2014 along with the Indiana Pacers, Utah Jazz, and Washington Wizards, among others.<\/p>\n

The tanking race that Dallas must win<\/p>\n

Fortunately for the Mavericks, there are still four games left this season. Three of which come against Western Conference playoff teams: the LA Clippers, Phoenix Suns, and San Antonio Spurs, plus a fellow tank-averse team, the Chicago Bulls. It wouldn\u2019t be shocking if Dallas lost out.<\/p>\n

Still, Dallas\u2019 tanking adversaries, Memphis and New Orleans, face similarly difficult schedules, with one fewer game remaining. Memphis is set to take on the Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, and Utah Jazz, while New Orleans will face the Boston Celtics, Minnesota Timberwolves, and, once again, the Jazz.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a chance the Mavericks could leapfrog both teams if they lose out and the Grizzlies and Pelicans fall to the even more furiously tanking Jazz. But this shouldn\u2019t be left to hypotheticals. Dallas shouldn\u2019t need other teams to lose to protect its draft position. The Mavericks have had nothing to play for for quite some time, yet they continue to act as they do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The writing has been on the wall for a while now, but a tendency to delay the inevitable…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":703434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3793],"tags":[7,686,149,4057,166,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-703433","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-mavericks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-mavericks","11":"tag-dallasmavericks","12":"tag-mavericks","13":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116363907894979172","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=703433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/703434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=703433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=703433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=703433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}