The Dallas Mavericks' season takes another downward turn as Dereck Lively II is set to miss significant time due to injury.
After making the big move for Klay Thompson during the offseason, the overwhelming hope for the Dallas Mavericks heading into this year was that they would emerge as a strong championship contender in the Western Conference. At least thus far, that hasn't been the case. At least to a certain extent, injuries have played a small factor in the team's overall disappointment this year. Kyrie Irving has already missed 10 games, Luka Doncic has missed 21 games (and counting), and things just got even worse for the team.
According to ESPN's Shams Charania, Lively sustained a small fracture in his foot and he's expected to miss at least two months of the season. With the Mavs already nursing an injury to Luka, the problems continue to pile on for the defending Western Conference champions. With big questions to answer heading into the second half of the season, the Mavs must decide how, if at all, this could change the team's approach to the February 6 NBA Trade Deadline.
The Dallas Mavericks could look to the trade market to find depth in the frontcourt
Even before the injury to Lively, the Mavs' depth in the frontcourt was already pretty thin. Now that Dallas is going to have to head into the second half of the season without Lively, it's going to place even more pressure on the front office to potentially look to the trade market to make an addition before the deadline.
The good news for Dallas is that there appears to be a heavy presence of a center market heading into the trade deadline. If they can find a solid backup option at the trade deadline, it would make sense for Dallas to explore their possibilities. However, with limited assets at their disposal, it will be interesting to see if the Mavs believe it to be necessary to make a move now or if they'll be willing to ride out the rest of the season in hopes that Lively will be back before the start of the playoffs.
It could put the front office in a difficult situation considering they were probably looking to make other additions to the roster before the deadline anyway. The Lively injury is far from ideal and certainly adds another disappointing layer to what has already been a pretty deflating season for the team overall.