With regular season finale looming, the clock is ticking for Mavericks / News - Basketnews.com

Despite the initial excitement, Kyrie Irving's trade has not produced the desired effects for the Dallas Mavericks. However, most of the issues the Mavericks faced were already there before the arrival of Irving, with Dallas being seriously at risk of not making the playoffs.

Credit: Getty Images via AFP/Scanpix Credit Getty Images via AFP/Scanpix

Since the Kyrie Irving trade happened, there have been many questions surrounding the present and future of the Dallas Mavericks.

There was some legit excitement about the partnership between Luka Doncic and Irving, especially after the Mavericks lost Jalen Brunson last summer without replacing him.

BasketNews already analyzed the struggles the Mavericks lived through before Irving's arrival.

The offense was way too dependent on Doncic (for the majority of the season, the Mavericks were the best offense in the league when Doncic was on the court, but they were absolutely terrible in the minutes without him).

Defensively, after a good first season under the new schemes of coach Jason Kidd, the Mavs were struggling mightily to be effective, allowing way too many easy baskets, especially at the rim.

Last year, the Mavericks reached the Western Conference finals in the first season under Kidd but that strong chemistry and fellowship vanished after the end of the season.

Jason Kidd Luka DoncicCredit AP-Scanpix

Doncic, the team star, lost two of his best friends on the roster, Jalen Brunson and Boban Marjanovic, who both left the franchise.

The defensive improvements seen in the first season under Kidd have all but disappeared this year, with the team seemingly constantly in disarray, something of a constant in Kidd's career.

He also made huge defensive strides for the Milwaukee Bucks in his first season as head coach there before seeing the team collapse steadily to the bottom ranks in defensive efficiency in the following seasons.

But despite all the issues, right before the trade deadline, the Mavericks were still in decent shape, fifth in the Western Conference and with a record slightly above .500%, just what they needed to avoid the play-in tournament.

On paper, the trade that led to Kyrie Irving's arrival was supposed to bring more offensive solutions and give the Mavs a boost, including an emotional one, in the second half of the season.

However, the trade has not had the desired effects so far. Since Irving's arrival, Dallas has had a negative record with 9 wins and 14 losses (if we consider only the games that Irving played, the record is 7 wins and 10 losses.

Meanwhile, the position in the standings has plummeted, bringing Kidd's team to 11th place in the Western Conference. That currently leaves Dallas out of the play-in zone, even though the distance from the Oklahoma City Thunder, now 10th in the conference, is very small.

And as of today, the Mavericks are +1400 (15.00) in odds to win the Western Conference.

Before an away win over the Indiana Pacers, the Mavericks were coming off four straight losses, including a disastrous one against the Charlotte Hornets. After the loss to Charlotte, Kidd had been unable to contain his dissatisfaction, calling his players' performance "dogshit".

Doncic had also seemed extremely disappointed after the game and revealed he was deeply frustrated and could not enjoy himself on the court for some time, partly because of some off-court problems.

Luka DoncicCredit Getty Images via AFP/Scanpix

As was easily predictable, the coexistence between Doncic and Irving still needs time and work before it is properly refined.

Both players have missed some games due to physical problems, and the Mavs have a record of 4 wins and 9 losses in games in which both Doncic and Irving have been available.

To shift all the blame for these difficulties onto Irving would be unfair, to say the least.

Since his arrival, Irving has had essentially identical numbers to what he had at the Nets. The former NBA champion averages 26.3 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, and 1.2 steals per game.

The offensive chemistry with Doncic is not yet particularly advanced, and the feeling is that the two players are trying to divide the moments of the game when they take responsibility.

As we noted before, making such significant changes halfway through the season is always complicated, and the players need time to adapt to a new system, regardless of their talent level.

Dallas' problems are not all that different from those already present before the trade. Despite a slight decline in efficiency, Dallas' offense remains among the league's top 10.

However, some players struggle more than others. Christian Wood's offensive efficiency, for example, has dropped dramatically.

Even Josh Green, who made a good contribution in the first part of the season, struggles to adapt to the new roster structure.

The Australian player had good games when both Irving and Doncic were out with injuries, while his offensive contribution is almost non-existent when both Dallas stars are on the court.

However, the main difficulties remain in the defensive half of the court, as Kidd's team remains one of the league's worst defenses.

Dorian Finney-Smith, who was Dallas' best perimeter defender, was sent to the Nets in a trade for Irving. Maxi Kleber, another defensive standout, has had several physical problems this season and has already missed 34 games.

With 5 games left to play in the regular season, the room for mistakes is extremely limited.

Failing to secure a spot in the playoffs after making it to the Western Conference finals in the past season would be a huge disappointment for the franchise owned by Mark Cuban and leave many doubts for this summer.

The Mavs have several players on expiring deals, including Kyrie Irving. The former Brooklyn Nets player hasn't given any kind of guarantee regarding his future yet, and losing him in free agency would represent a major issue for the Mavericks.

Kyrie IrvingCredit USA Today Sports-Scanpix

For a few years now, Dallas has been trying to find a no.2 to play alongside Doncic. The pairing with Kristaps Porzingis didn't work as expected, Jalen Brunson wasn't supposed to be a real no.2, but he turned out to be a very effective one.

Unfortunately, Dallas couldn't keep him around and lost him in free agency for nothing.

Now, only after a few months, there are already doubts about Kyrie Irving's long-term future with the franchise. Doncic has been good enough to cover most of these problems, but that situation won't last forever.

The Slovenian superstar has already shown signs of frustration, and it seems he's also suffering from issues outside of basketball.

Although he's still under contract for multiple years, Dallas cannot waste too much time and needs to build the right supporting cast around him.

Considering how many difficulties they had so far in doing that, it's not that much of a given that they'll be able to do it in a reasonable time.

In the meantime, Dallas must do everything to grab at least one place in the play-in. The clock is ticking, and the Mavs don't have much time left.

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