Mavericks' perfect chance to fix Nico Harrison's mess is collapsing

Sitting at 5-14 and equipped by an interim front office, it's safe to say Nico Harrison's vision for the Dallas Mavericks didn't go according to plan, yet the ripple effects of his decisions are continuing to hurt the Mavericks, and not just with the Luka Doncic trade. Harrison's primary free agent target, D'Angelo Russell, has had the most inefficient season of his career up to this point in Dallas, and it will be extremely hard to trade Russell since he still has a season-and-a-half left on his contract.

After negotiating with Kyrie Irving to take less money on his new deal over the summer to open up the Taxpayer's MLE for Dallas, Harrison and company opted to sign Russell to a one-plus-one, but the caveat is that Russell has a player option for the 2026-27 season, though he's playing at a level to where Dallas certainly wishes that was a team option instead.

Russell is due roughly $5.9 million next season, and given he's already on the fringes of Jason Kidd's rotation ever since two-way signee Ryan Nembhard returned to the lineup, this could become dead money on Dallas' books next season. Of course, there's always the option of attaching draft capital to move off Russell's contract by the trade deadline, but this wouldn't be preferable whatsoever for a team that already has limited future assets as they enter the Cooper Flagg era.

It will only get tougher to trade D'Angelo Russell as time goes on

In 17 games so far this season, Russell is averaging 11.9 points and 4.8 assists per game off 39.2/25.0/69.6 shooting splits, and all of these marks would serve as career lows if the season ended today, barring his rookie season, where he averaged fewer assists.

Also, because of Harrison's doing, the Mavericks were hard-capped at the second apron following the Russell signing, so they can't just waive him or stretch-waive him, so they are severely handicapped from a flexibility standpoint with him. Barring a few scoring outbursts this season, Russell's decision-making and shot diet have been lackluster in Dallas, and his defense has been horrendous.

Russell has seemingly lost a step athletically, as his craftiness in the halfcourt hasn't been nearly as evident in Dallas compared to previous stops in his career, as he's had a tough time blowing by defenders at the point of attack. Russell is only 29 years old, and while he's obviously past his athletic prime, many longer-tenured NBA players play some of the best basketball of their career slightly before and after they reach the 30 mark.

Russell had every reason to come to Dallas and do just that, especially after dipping in efficiency with the Brooklyn Nets last season, but this has turned out to be far from a prove-it season for him, as he's proving he may not be a rotation-caliber guard in the league anymore if anything.

With how inflexible the Mavericks are given Russell's current deal, all they can do is hope and pray he can recoup a little positive value before the trade deadline, as there's a real possibility the Mavericks may not be able to move him off their books whatsoever, and will have to waive him next offseason or something of the sort.