The Dallas Mavericks are navigating the worst injury crisis in franchise history, with nine players currently listed as injured. Despite this, they have managed to field enough active bodies each game. However, with their roster stretched thin, another injury could leave them with fewer than the NBA-required eight active players, potentially leading to forfeited games.
NBA Denies Mavericks’ Request for Relief
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst revealed on The Hoop Collective podcast that the Mavericks approached the NBA for relief, hoping to sign players without exceeding the first salary cap apron. However, the league has denied their request.
“From what I understand, [the Mavs] have asked the league for relief, and the league to this point has not offered them relief,” Windhorst stated.
Tim Bontemps explained the league’s reasoning:
“The league can’t offer them relief. This is why you have hard salary cap limits. If you say, ‘Oh, well hey, you had all these injuries, so we’re going to let you get away with skipping past this apron to sign players,’ all the other teams are gonna understandably go, ‘Hey, wait a second. Why are they getting any breaks? Everybody’s got to follow the rules.’ That’s why you leave yourself cushion with these kinds of deals and don’t put yourself $50,000 below the apron.”
The Mavericks are now left to manage their crisis without outside assistance, facing the possibility of dressing injured players or risking forfeits.
Current Injury Situation
The Mavericks currently have seven full-time players sidelined, in addition to two-way player Kai Jones. The injured players include:
Jaden Hardy (ankle)
Anthony Davis (adductor)
Dante Exum (hand)
Olivier-Maxence Prosper (wrist)
Daniel Gafford (knee)
Dereck Lively II (foot)
Kyrie Irving (knee)
Caleb Martin (hip, day-to-day)
With Exum, Prosper, Gafford, and Irving likely out for the season, the Mavericks’ only hope to avoid forfeits is for injured players to return sooner than expected.
The Bigger Picture: Avoiding Embarrassment
This is no longer about making a late-season push for the Play-In Tournament; it’s about avoiding an international embarrassment. The Mavericks already faced criticism earlier in the season for trading Luka Dončić, and forfeiting games would only worsen their reputation.
Jaden Hardy and Anthony Davis have begun ramping up their activity and were recently assigned to the Texas Legends for G League practices.
