Evaluating the Dallas Mavericks at the All-Star Break

The NBA Trade Deadline and All-Star Weekend have come and gone, so that means we’re in the home stretch of the 2019-20 NBA season. In this serious post-All-Star Break, we’ll go over the outlook for every team in the NBA. Here, we’ll provide a short glimpse at championship odds and playoff chances for each team. Also highlighted are key injuries to note and a fantasy basketball player to watch the rest of the season.

Where do the Dallas Mavericks stand at the All-Star Break?

Record: 33-22
Playoff Chances: 100%
Championship Odds: +3300
Division Odds: +140
Conference Championship winner: +1600

The Mavericks limp into the playoffs in a sense, but got a nice shot of life with Luka Doncic back in the lineup in time for the All-Star festivities. A win over the Kings on Wednesday has the Mavs in the 6-seed in the West with the Thunder right on them in the standings. Things are still tight 2-7 in the West, so that race will be exciting the last few months of the season.

The Mavericks didn’t make any significant deadline moves, adding Willie Cauley-Stein beforehand to add some depth in the front court. So while it doesn’t appear the Mavs will go all-in for a championship run, they still have a shot to make some noise in the playoffs. Dallas also has a shot to dethrone the Rockets for the Southwest division title. The Mavs play the Rockets two more times this season, so those games will have major implications for the division and playoffs. With Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis, the Mavericks have a chance to make a run, but how far is realistic?

Prediction: The Mavs push their first-round opponent to 6-7 games but lose.

Key Injuries for Dallas Mavericks

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, SF/PF (conditioning) — DTD
Dwight Powell, PF/C (Achilles) — out for season

MKG was signed after being bought out by the Hornets after the deadline. He hasn’t played a game for the Mavericks due to conditioning and getting up to speed with his new team, per coach Rick Carlisle. Powell ruptured his Achilles and is done for the season — which is why Cauley-Stein was brought in.

While not listed above, the most troublesome injuries are Kristaps Porzingis and Luka Doncic. Porzingis has dealt with knee soreness this season and he has had major surgery before, which puts him at risk. Doncic has sprained his ankle twice this season, so the history there is concerning, though he’s back and healthy heading into the All-Star Break. Still, if one or either of those players went down again, it would be a death blow to the Mavericks hopes of advancing in the playoffs. We’ll need to keep an eye on both the rest of the way and could end up resting more the last two months of the season.

Fantasy basketball spotlight: Seth Curry

There was once a time in which people uttered the sentence, “Man, Seth Curry is going to get paid one day, isn’t he?” Well, those days seem very long ago. Always in the shadow of his older brother Stephen Curry, Seth had a breakout for the Mavericks back in 2016-17 and was on his way to getting paid. Injuries derailed those talks and after a season in Portland, Curry found his way back to Dallas.

Curry’s taken on a lesser role as a bench scorer, but has stepped up when the team needs him. In four games prior to the break, Curry averaged 19.8 points while shooting the lights out for 57.1% from the floor and 62.5% from 3-point range. Really, whenever Curry gets more playing time he’s been incredibly efficient and productive. If anything were to happen to Porzingis, Doncic or Tim Hardaway Jr., then Curry is the player to pick up in season-long formats.

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