NBA: Mid-season playoff seeding predictions for the East and West

6. Dallas Mavericks

If the Dallas Mavericks are going to have any shot at accomplishing what they did in the postseason last year, they’re going to need to make need another player to step up next to Luka Doncic on a consistent basis or they’re going to need to trade for another difference-maker at the NBA Trade Deadline.

Honestly, you can almost assume that the Mavs are going to try to make it happen via trade. At the same time, that doesn’t guarantee that they will. Luka is so amazing that it may not even matter. But as we saw through the first few years of his career, Luka can’t do it all alone.

With the way the West standings are at the moment, it would be unlikely for the Mavs to even win a first-round playoff series. If that does end up being the case, they better have something big up their sleeves heading into the offseason.