Kidd boldly silences Mavericks' major lineup dilemma after just one quarter

After winning two straight games for only the second time in this Luka Doncic-less stretch that has lasted since Christmas Day, the Dallas Mavericks weren't able to carry on the momentum to a third straight victory in a 117-102 loss to the Detroit Pistons on Friday night. Dallas struggled countless times to contain newly selected first-time All-Star Cade Cunningham, as Cunningham torched Dallas at all three levels en route to a 40-point evening off 17-30 shooting from the field.

Dallas' offense quietly abandoned them in the fourth quarter as well, as they were blanketed by Pistons' wing defenders such as Ausar Thompson and Tobias Harris. The Mavericks had a tough time creating offense throughout this entire game, and Naji Marshall's lone 3-pointer was the only other 3-pointer Dallas made in the game outside of Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, and P.J. Washington.

The Mavericks needed a lot more help offensively from their guards off the bench and Spencer Dinwiddie in this contest, but they simply didn't get that, which made the difference in the game when one takes into consideration that Pistons' reserve guards Marcus Sasser and Malik Beasley were making huge plays down the stretch of this contest.

Kidd didn't hesitate to put Exum ahead of Hardy and Grimes in rotation

There was a lack of stability in Dallas' guard rotation on Friday night that we haven't seen recently, as Dante Exum was inserted into the rotation and made his season debut after a wrist injury from an attempted dunk in training camp caused him to miss the entire season up to this point.

Exum played a contributing role in Dallas' race to the Finals last season and he had plenty of moments that re-cemented himself as an NBA-caliber role player last season, but he took a decent chunk of minutes away from Quentin Grimes and Hardy last night, both of whom have been playing solid basketball over the past month. Fans have been wondering for months how the bench guard carousel of Exum, Dinwiddie, and Jaden Hardy was going to work out once Exum got healthy, and now we have our answer.

Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd even substituted Exum in at the beginning of the second quarter before Hardy even stepped foot on the floor in this game, and both Hardy and Grimes only played seven and 10 minutes respectively in this game. To Kidd's credit, neither Hardy nor Grimes got it going offensively when they were on the floor in this game, but they didn't have that much of an opportunity on the flip side.

After being out with an injury that made it difficult to shoot given it was his wrist, Exum played solid defense in his return to action and scored three points on 1-2 shooting from the field in 14 minutes. It may take some time for Exum to get fully acclimated into Dallas' rotation and get his shooting back on track though, but that is time that the Mavericks unfortunately don't have, as Dallas is in a gridlock with the Phoenix Suns, Minnesota Timberwolves, Sacramento Kings, and Golden State Warriors for the 7-11 seeds in the Western Conference currently.

Don't get it twisted, Exum can definitely be a huge piece off the bench for Dallas if he swings back into full form here soon, but it was an overzealous move by Kidd to play him over Hardy and Grimes as much as he did against Detroit, as both young guards have been growing confidence in their offensive repertoire with each passing week this season and Kidd could do a better job at bringing Exum up to speed.

With Dallas' guard rotation projecting to be at full strength here soon once Doncic returns from injuries, there will only be so many mouths that can be fed and it will be very interesting to see how Kidd divvies up the guard minutes in his rotation. Especially since the trade deadline is coming up at the end of next week, it wouldn't be surprising if Exum getting healthy and Dallas' guard rotation returning to full strength could prompt Dallas to consolidate a guard from their pool to another team for a backup wing or big.