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Dallas Mavericks: Picking Up The Mess After Getting Spurned By DeAndre Jordan

Ryan McNeill|

After a depressing summer, the Dallas Mavericks look to pick up its broken pieces ahead of the 2015-16 NBA season

This summer has been a wild and wacky ride for Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks.

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This time last week, the Mavericks were poised to join the Western Conference elite after poaching DeAndre Jordan from the Los Angeles Clippers, and Wesley Matthews from the Portland Trail Blazers.

That all changed dramatically earlier this week when Jordan got cold feet before officially putting pen to paper.

The NBA universe was whipped into a frenzy when word leaked that the Clippers were making a late push to retain Jordan. Members of the Clippers front office and key players were heading to Dallas for a secret meeting. Emojis on twitter went viral. Blake Griffin had fun with some photo posts on twitter late in the evening.

Cuban supposedly was unable to have a last minute meeting with Jordan to try and convince him to stick with his original agreement to sign with the Dallas Mavericks.

When things calmed down, around midnight, it became clear the Mavericks would be stood up at the alter and it would be too late to re-group and attempt to sign another marquee free agent.

Heck, it would be a struggle to even obtain a starting center after their original Plan B, Roy Hibbert, had already be traded to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Cuban took to his social media site Cyber Dust to vent about the scenario.

"“I don’t think the time is right to say anything beyond the facts that he (Jordan) never responded to me at all yesterday,” Cuban explained. “Not once. To this minute, I have not heard anything from him since Tuesday night.“More importantly, I specifically told Wes that I would not hold him to his commitment if he wanted to go elsewhere. I can’t print his exact repsonse, but suffice to say, he is excited to play for our Mavs. Wes Matthews is exactly the type of player we want in a Mavs uniform and our fans will love him.”"

Dallas is now left with a big hole in the middle, an aging Dirk Nowitzki in the twilight of his career, two wings coming off season ending injuries — and potentially career-changing injuries — and a bunch of backups playing point guard.

Enes Kanter could possibly be acquired via free agency, but Oklahoma City will likely match an offer sheet he signs.

What makes this even scarier for the Mavs is they owe their 2016 first round pick to the Boston Celtics, if it’s outside of the top seven picks.

Gulp.

Dallas is almost forced to reload via a trade, but with teams knowing how desperate they will be, that will be easier said than done. There aren’t a lot of prominent players on the trade market that could have the kind of impact Jordan would have had on the franchise.

When you throw into the mix fellow Western Conference teams that failed to make the playoffs last season like the Sacramento Kings, Oklahoma City Thunder and Phoenix Suns, who are all poised to make big strides next season, with teams like the New Orleans Pelicans, San Antonio Spurs and Memphis Grizzlies, who all solidified themselves this summer, it’s likely Dallas will have a good enough team to just miss the playoffs.

Oh, and having to play in the toughest division in the NBA doesn’t help, either.

Having to give a lottery pick to Boston combined with missing the playoffs isn’t what Cuban or the Dallas Mavericks want to do.

It’s also worth noting the fact that head coach Rick Carlisle has long stated he has no interest in sticking around for a rebuilding phase. If Dallas opts to go that route — something Cuban said the team would have explored if they couldn’t land an elite free agent — then it appears likely Carlisle and the Mavericks will part ways this summer.

If nothing else, it will be interesting to see how the next few weeks shake out.

Regardless, what once was a promising summer and future for the Dallas Mavericks appears to have shifted in a hurry to more question marks than answers.

This can’t be the way Nowitzki saw his final few seasons in Dallas shaking out.

Next: Predicting the Eastern Conference playoff picture after free agency

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