The Dallas Mavericks are not where they hoped to be as we are nearly a quarter of the way through the season, as they’ve gotten off to a 9-10 start, including an active 4-game losing streak.
To this point, the Mavs have few bright spots beyond Luka Doncic, who is carrying an immense creative load on offense with Jalen Brunson now in New York. Christian Wood has been very good offensively off the bench, averaging 17.1 points and 7.6 rebounds per game on strong efficiency, but Jason Kidd has not yet given him a larger role because of defensive issues — which haven’t particularly been alleviated by the Mavs other options at center. All of this has created frustration in Dallas, and a big part of the problem is there isn’t a clear or easy fix.
The roster is, for the most part, what it is, and without a significant trade there aren’t a lot of options to improve things. Still, the Mavs are trying to find some pieces that can help, and after Facu Campazzo has failed to crack Kidd’s rotation, they will turn to a former All-Star in hopes of finding some offensive creation from the guard position. Marc Stein reported on Monday that the Mavs are “in advanced talks” with Kemba Walker, and will waive Campazzo to create the roster spot for Walker once he completes a physical.
That physical will be particularly important considering Walker has played just 80 games the last two seasons due to a knee injury that derailed what was another All-Star campaign in 2019-20 in Boston. Walker has lacked the same explosiveness since then, but even if he’s not the dynamic player he once was, adding another competent ball-handler and facilitator would make sense for the Mavs provided he’s gained a little bit of that strength and burst back in his time off.
