Kidd's brutal benching sends chilling message about Mavericks fan favorite's fate

Since the trade deadline, the Dallas Mavericks' season has been in a constant downward spiral after trading away Luka Doncic and Quentin Grimes. Not only has Nico Harrison expressed his opinion that the team made the right move in trading Doncic, but Harrison would later double down on his unpopular opinions about this move in a mysterious press conference at the American Airlines Center earlier this week.

This press conference was not only for a small group of hand-selected media members, but officially, the reporters weren't allowed to film the event, and they could only record audio to use for themselves and couldn't post it. Not only is this a questionable way to address the media, but it couldn't have come at a worse time with the postseason starting last night, but it ended up not mattering.

On Wednesday night, the Mavericks took on the Sacramento Kings in a win-or-go-home Play-In Tournament game on the road. Dallas came away in a surprisingly dominant fashion and looked like a sure-fire playoff team on both ends of the floor after limiting the Kings to 106 points and defeating them 120-106.

While the Mavericks had plenty of success with Jason Kidd's refined playoff rotation, it meant the possible end to Spencer Dinwiddie's tenure in Dallas after only playing the game's final two minutes.

Kidd shows that Dinwiddie's Mavs future may not be so bright after all

Dinwiddie has been a surprising stud since the Doncic trade after receiving an influx of minutes. Dinwiddie not only received more playing time, but he also took advantage of his time on the floor after receiving the keys to the offense once Kyrie Irving suffered a season-ending torn ACL.

At one point, fans envisioned Dinwiddie being the starting guard on what would be Dallas' playoff rotation. Dinwiddie would be constantly relied upon to make up for the lack of playmaking and offensive initiation in the biggest moments.

While Dinwiddie is still a capable guard, his lackluster play to end the season was enough for Kidd to pull the plug on him. Dinwiddie was not only stripped of his starting role over time, but he lost his rotational spot entirely in the Mavericks' biggest game of the season.

Dinwiddie would only play a shocking two minutes in Dallas' first-round Play-In Tournament victory over the Kings. Kidd proved to favor Brandon Williams, Dante Exum, and Naji Marshall's playmaking abilities in favor of Dinwiddie's, which could prove to be the end of the fan favorite's tenure in Dallas.

To begin the season, Dinwiddie signed with Dallas on a one-year veteran minimum deal to help bolster a deep Dallas guard rotation at the time. While the guard position may be the weakest on the roster right now, Kidd's benching is a clear sign Dinwiddie may be out of Dallas this summer.

Harrison is in clear win-now mode, and Dinwiddie may not fit the culture that the Mavericks front office sees for the team. Dinwiddie was losing his role after a disappointing end to the regular season that saw his shooting numbers fall off a cliff and his defensive impact drop.

Dinwiddie's boom or bust play style has yielded him some impactful performances in Dallas' hopes to keep their regular season alive. While this may be enough to sell some fans, Dinwiddie's recent struggles are too concerning to allow Kidd to experiment with the rotation in a win-or-go-home game.

While Dinwiddie has proven to be a solid veteran guard on a team looking to stay competitive, he may be playing his final games in Dallas this postseason. It's unclear what vision Harrison has for the team, but Dinwiddie may be one notable name that doesn't return to Dallas.