The Dallas Mavericks are riding a nine-game losing streak, their longest since 1998. Kyrie Irving isn’t coming back this season. The team appears destined for another year in the NBA draft lottery.
But there are plenty of reasons to watch Dallas coming out of the All-Star break and until the likely end of an injury-riddled season when they host the Chicago Bulls at American Airlines Center on April 12.
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At 19-35, the Mavericks are seven games behind the LA Clippers for the final spot of the Play-In tournament. To reach the 10th seed and have a chance at the postseason, they would have to jump two teams in their final 28 games, but they’d benefit more from losing as many games as they can to position themselves for a good draft pick this summer.
Mavericks
Now that Irving’s status is clear and the Anthony Davis trade is in the rearview, it’s time for the Mavericks to shift gears to their future — one that begins with their 19-year-old rising star.
The development of Cooper Flagg and the rest of the team’s young core will be the priority for the rest of the season, regardless of any game’s final score.
Here are the storylines we’re watching during the final stretch of the season.
Can Flagg win Rookie of the Year?
Flagg scored 27 points in last week’s loss to the Phoenix Suns, but he also suffered a left midfoot sprain that caused him to miss the subsequent loss to the Lakers and the Rising Stars Game during All-Star Weekend.
Flagg spent most of his All-Star break in Durham, N.C., at his alma mater and was seen wearing a protective boot on his foot Saturday when Duke defeated Clemson.
There are nine days between Flagg’s last game Feb. 10 and Friday’s against the Minnesota Timberwolves, and if the injury is minor, expect Flagg to pick up exactly where he left off. He’s one of the leading candidates for Rookie of the Year and has averaged 20.4 points, 5.4 rebounds and 6.6 assists through 49 games.
Whenever Flagg returns, he’ll eclipse 1,000 career points, a significant milestone for his rookie season. He currently sits at 999.
As long as Flagg is healthy, he’ll have the opportunity to work through the highs and lows that come with being the best player on a team that won’t qualify for the playoffs.
Integrating new additions
Inconsistency is one of the most consistent things about the Mavericks, especially when it comes to who’s available on a nightly basis. They’ll enter Wednesday’s road game against the Timberwolves having used 29 different starting lineups.
The likelihood of that number growing increased once the Mavericks acquired Marvin Bagley III, Khris Middleton, Tyus Jones and AJ Johnson at the trade deadline.
Bagley, Middleton and Jones have had only a few games to adjust to their new coaching staff and teammates, but they’ll have the rest of the season to develop their chemistry and increase their value going into the offseason, when all three will be unrestricted free agents.
Time is running out for Nembhard, Cisse
Similar to last season, the Mavericks need to be wise about using their two-way players.
Rookie point guard Ryan Nembhard has only six games of NBA eligibility remaining, and Moussa Cisse has eight. Two-way players can be on a team’s active list for only 50 games, unless their contract is converted to a standard deal.
For that to happen, Dallas would be required to waive one of its players, which appears unlikely unless Middleton wants to be bought out of his contract so he can join a contender as a free agent.
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Two-way guard Miles Kelly has 32 games of eligibility left, so he could be active for the rest of the season if the Mavericks need him in the lineup.
How low can the Mavericks go?
Dallas has the seventh-worst record in the league and has struggled to win games because of injuries and a 26th-ranked offense. The Mavericks’ longest win streak was four games in mid-January, but since then they have reeled off nine straight losses, their longest losing streak since a 15-game slump in the 1997-98 season.
If they lose to the Timberwolves on Friday, 10 straight losses would tie a separate streak from that season.
The Mavericks have the 14th-most difficult schedule after the All-Star break, but they’ll need all six teams ahead of them in the lottery standings to win games, which likely won’t happen because of the tanking epidemic plaguing the league.
It’s entirely possible for the Mavericks to lose to Minnesota, especially since they enter the matchup 0-2 in the regular season series.
But in the next four games, they’ll find a few willing participants who wouldn’t mind adding more losses to their record. Dallas will travel to Indianapolis and Brooklyn before returning home to host Sacramento and Memphis to close the month.
All four of those teams are lottery bound, and the Mavericks have winning records over the Pacers and Nets.
The Mavericks’ longest losing streak in franchise history is 20 games, set in the 1993-94 season. It would be unlikely to see the streak extend that far, especially considering their tendency to compete no matter who’s in the lineup. They would have to lose every game through March 10 at Atlanta to tie that mark.
The last remaining player from the Dirk Nowitzki era
It’s possible veteran center Dwight Powell could be in his final season with the Mavericks.
The longest-tenured player on the roster has spent 12 seasons in a Mavericks uniform, dating to the 2014-15 season and the Dirk Nowitzki era. He is the only player on the team who’s been teammates with Nowitzki, Luka Doncic and Flagg.
Powell will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, which gives him the option to pursue a new opportunity or stay with the Mavericks, but their depth at the center position could factor into a decision that would need to work both ways to facilitate a new contract.
Find more Mavericks coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.