Mavericks' biggest roster issue is already costing them when it matters most

The Dallas Mavericks lost a nail-biter on Friday night against the Phoenix Suns, as the Mavericks overcame a 13-point halftime deficit off the heels of some electric shotmaking from Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic, but ultimately fell short because of a lack of production off their bench.

With 0.8 seconds left in the game, Daniel Gafford committed his sixth foul on Jusuf Nurkic and subsequently fouled out, as Nurkic got fouled on a put-back attempt off an offensive rebound from a missed floater by Royce O'Neale. Nurkic made the second of two free throws to put the Suns up 114-113, and Luka Doncic air-balled a near half-court on the ensuing possession, which led to Dallas dropping their second game against Phoenix this season.

This single instance was unfortunate, but it serves as a microcosm of the bigger issue at play here, which was Dallas' inability to contain the Suns on the offensive glass all night long. The Mavericks technically won the rebounding battle by a slight margin in this game, but they were ousted on the offensive glass by an 11-8 difference in favor of Phoenix and lost the second chance points contest by two points.

While the Mavericks have rebounded relatively well from a statistical perspective this season, recent injuries to P.J. Washington and Dereck Lively II have put the Mavericks in a tough position on the glass as well as with their frontcourt defense. Mavericks big man Daniel Gafford was also in foul trouble all night long, forcing Dwight Powell to play 25 minutes in this game, and Powell isn't close to the same level of a defender or rebounder that Lively II or Gafford is.

Mavericks not having a better third center is killing them early on

With that being said, Dallas' lack of a reliable option from the third-string center position is something that is haunting them in the early season, as Powell isn't near as dynamic of a threat as a roll man as he used to be. Given Powell's lack of impact on offense at this stage in his career as well as the fact that he's an average rim protector on his best day, the Mavericks seemingly need a better option at this position if one of Gafford or Lively II is out of the lineup, especially since Lively II has had a myriad of injury concerns in his young career.

When one looks at the current scope of the league, most contending teams have solid two-way centers deep in their rotation, even if some of those players are emergency reserves more so than anything. Dallas had the option of scanning the free agency market to sign another big instead of Spencer Dinwiddie with their last minimum spot this past offseason, and moreover, they could've elected to use one of their three two-way spots on a big man just in case of scenarios like this.

Texas Legends center Jamarion Sharp would've been a perfect candidate for one of those aforementioned two-way spots. Sharp has insane length at 7-foot-5 and is pretty mobile as a defender for someone his size, but the Mavericks elected to sign two guards in Brandon Williams and Jazian Gortman to their last two-way spots, even though Sharp may have easily proved to have been a more valuable signing than Williams.

At the very least, Sharp is a solid rim protector who could swallow up rebounds with his size alone, which could've given Phoenix some headaches in a game like Friday night. Even if Dallas was worried about Sharp's raw offensive game, they could've easily taken a flyer on another young free agent center with that last two-way spot before the season started.

Don't get it twisted, Powell is a valuable veteran to have on Dallas' roster because of the intangibles he brings off the court as well as his advanced understanding of Dallas' playbook, but him playing heavy minutes against some of the west's best simply isn't going to cut it. Hopefully, Lively II returns from injury fairly soon, as this is an issue that the Mavericks don't look like they'll be solving anytime soon.