Mavericks' rumored trade plan would spell disaster after Lively II's injury

Dallas Mavericks fans were dealt some of the worst news of the season on Wednesday afternoon, as it was reported that Dereck Lively II will miss at least a month with a stress fracture in his right ankle. This injury from last week was originally ruled a right ankle sprain, but it was later ruled a small fracture, and now Dallas could be without him for multiple months as the most important stretch of the season is right around the corner.

The Mavs fought valiantly without Lively II on Wednesday night, as they gave the Minnesota Timberwolves a run for their money, but they ultimately ended up losing by a score of 115-114. The Mavericks have now lost 10 of their last 13 games, and Luka Doncic and Lively II are desperately missed right now.

The Mavericks' depth is being stretched extremely thin, as Dallas was without seven players due to injury and illness last night, and without Lively II in the lineup for the foreseeable future, tons of pressure is going to be put on Daniel Gafford's shoulders.

Gafford has taken over the starting center spot while Lively II has been sidelined, and he has been putting up some massive performances lately. He is averaging 20.0 points, 11.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 0.8 steals, and 3.5 blocks per game while shooting 76.2 percent from the field over the last four games, and his production has been outstanding.

Mavericks can't afford to lose Gafford with Lively II out

Gafford has reminded fans why Dallas made the trade for him last season to begin with, and he is looking irreplaceable right now.

Gafford's name was originally brought up in some trade rumors over the last week or so, as it was rumored that the Mavericks were willing to part with him to land an elite perimeter defender, but that possibility should be thrown out the window considering how important Gafford has been to the team recently. He and Maxi Kleber are the only two healthy centers on the roster right now, and if they were to trade Gafford, they would go right back to phase one and have a massive hole at center once again.

The Mavericks' backup center spot has been a major concern over the years, as they've struggled to have two powerful bigs on the roster at once until they acquired Gafford, and they can't throw that away. If they were to trade Gafford right now without acquiring another big in a trade or via the buyout market, they would be stuck with Kleber, Lively II, and Dwight Powell (once they get healthy) as the only centers on the roster. That center rotation isn't strong enough to compete with the best teams in the West, and the Mavericks would be playing a dangerous game if they rolled with those three bigs for the rest of the season.

While Gafford isn't the same switchable defender and potential offensive hub and playmaker that Lively II is turning into, he still has plenty to offer and should be valued extremely high. Over the last eight days, Gafford has two games in which he scored 27 or more points, and this includes the best game of his career against the Charlotte Hornets in which he dropped 31 points, 15 rebounds, and seven blocks. Those are the types of games that you bring Gafford in for, as he is nearly unstoppable in certain matchups, and Dallas needs to continue to keep him highly involved in their offense and feed him the ball down low as much as they can.

He is noticeably playing with more energy lately, as he is running and finishing strong in transition, and getting him involved out of the gates seems like a good recipe for success moving forward. It's typically easy to tell what kind of game Gafford is going to have after the first quarter, and the dominant games should keep rolling in as long as he is playing with tons of energy.

This isn't to say that Gafford is going to have a big game every night, as some matchups are naturally just tougher for him, but his increased volume lately should only help him get ready for when his minutes may decrease some when Lively II returns. It is overwhelmingly obvious that Dallas can't afford to trade Gafford with Lively II out of the lineup, and this upcoming stretch without Doncic and Lively II could make or break the Mavericks' season.