Mavericks desperately need to trade this contract amid their hot streak

The Dallas Mavericks are one of the hottest teams in the NBA right now as they have won 12 of their last 14 games, and they are doing all of this while battling extreme adversity.

An illness has been floating around the locker room for over two weeks, and there have been several injuries to role players that have forced Jason Kidd to go deep into his bag and use some different rotations. Jaden Hardy is nursing an ankle injury, Maxi Kleber has a fractured rib (and is ill), Naji Marshall is ill again, and Dante Exum is still out after having wrist surgery.

Despite all of this, the Mavs were still able to take down the Golden State Warriors by a score of 143-133 last night, and they are looking like one of the deepest teams in the NBA. Luka Doncic dominated as he finished with 45 points, 11 rebounds, and 13 assists, and Dallas was able to overcome Golden State's unworldly 3-point shooting.

Mavericks should move on from Maxi Kleber now

This was a complete game from Doncic and Kyrie Irving as well as several of the role players, and they are finding ways to win games without several of their key bench players being in the lineup. Kleber is one of the players that they are starting to win without, and it may be time for the Mavs to move on.

Kleber has been in trade rumors recently, and after fracturing his rib, it may be in Dallas' best interest to move him now and start fresh rather than waiting around for him to get healthy. When Kleber gets hurt, it typically takes him significant time to ever look like himself again, and Dallas has no time to wait around as they are fighting for one of the top seeds in the Western Conference.

It also doesn't help Kleber's case that Oliver-Maxence Prosper is looking like he can play real minutes and provide an impact on both ends of the floor, and it may be best to move Kleber now and allow Prosper to continue to get rotation minutes and thrive in his new role.

This isn't to say that Kleber is worthless on the floor, as his versatility on defense is still a prized possession for the Mavs, but his offensive game has disappeared on him more than ever before this season. Kleber is averaging 1.7 points per game on 34.6 percent shooting from the field, and he is only shooting 0.6 threes per game. That is a huge drop off from the 2.1 threes per game he was shooting last season, and if he isn't going to shoot threes, he is going to have to find other ways to impact the game on offense.

He has had a couple of strong drives to the rim recently when he was healthy, but his ability to stretch the floor is what has made him so deadly for the Mavs in big moments. His 3-point shooting was excellent in the 2022 NBA Playoffs and at the beginning of last season's playoffs, but the same confidence that Kleber was shooting with in those moments is not with him right now.

A lot of his confidence issues can likely be attributed to injuries as he seemingly is never at 100 percent, and this fractured rib could throw a wrench into Dallas' reported trade plan to try to move him. Doing this now rather than later is ideal, and as the deadline gets closer, we could get a better feel for how the Mavs truly feel about him and his future.

He is set to make $11 million annually over the final two years of his contract (this season and next season), and moving him now could give Dallas a better shot of having to throw in excess sweeteners on top to get the deal done.