Mavericks' center depth hits treacherously low levels after Daniel Gafford injury

The Dallas Mavericks' center depth has been an issue for months now due to nonstop injuries to nearly every big man on the roster.

Dereck Lively II, Dwight Powell, and Maxi Kleber (before he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers as part of the Luka Doncic trade), all missed significant time due to injuries, and their center depth got so bad at one point that they had to cut Jazian Gortman and sign Kylor Kelley to give them some depth behind Daniel Gafford.

To make things worse, the Mavericks traded for Anthony Davis at the trade deadline, and now he's injured with a right adductor injury and could miss multiple weeks. Davis was having an outstanding debut, and he and Gafford looked like a deadly duo down low. They combined to block nine shots, and both players threw down some thunderous dunks. The first play of the game was a lob from Davis to Gafford, and the potential of this duo was on display right away.

Gafford has been the healthiest center on the roster this season, as he has played in 51 of Dallas' 53 games this season, but all of that could have changed on Monday night in Dallas' home game against the Sacramento Kings.

Daniel Gafford goes down with scary knee injury against Kings

In the second quarter, while setting a screen, Gafford went to the ground and was in tons of pain as he was holding his right knee. He had to be helped to the locker room, and it did not look good when watching the replay.

It looked as if Gafford's knee hyperextended when Malik Monk collided with him, and the Mavericks announced that his injury was a right knee sprain and he wouldn't return to the game. Dallas' only healthy center on the roster is now Kelley and Jason Kidd will be put in an extremely tough position when it comes to rotations.

Kidd's frontcourt has been banged up for months now, and he is truly doing whatever he can with the roster he has. Gafford going down right before the All-Star break is exactly what the Mavs didn't need, and this comes just two days after Davis went down in his debut against the Houston Rockets.

Mavericks fans have been put through a whirlwind of emotions over the last nine days as Doncic was traded two Saturdays ago, Davis and P.J. Washington went down with injuries last Saturday, and Gafford went down with an injury tonight, and time will tell if Gafford has to miss significant time.

Lively II will likely miss a few more weeks, and Gafford being out for multiple weeks would be the worst-case scenario. Kelley could end up being the only healthy center following the All-Star break depending on what we hear about Gafford and Davis, and the Mavericks' injury luck is only getting worse as the season goes on.

The Mavericks truly can't catch a break, and the severity of Gafford's injury could end up making or breaking Dallas' season. There is still tons of basketball left to be played, but the center rotation could end up being too battered to survive in this loaded Western Conference.