Whether the league likes it or not, the Mavericks have tanked effectively recently.
The NBA recently fined the Utah Jazz and the Indiana Pacers for sitting healthy players, and seemingly everyone is talking about tanking as the NBA season winds down in less than two months. Teams have to do whatever it takes to improve their positioning ahead of the 2026 NBA Draft, and this includes shutting down players.
On Wednesday, Dallas announced that Kyrie Irving would miss the rest of the 2025-26 season as he recovers from a torn ACL.