Jason Kidd finally ends age-old debate on the Mavericks' most polarizing player

With just one week until the NBA trade deadline, the Dallas Mavericks' direction this season is largely unknown, as there's a world in which they could be buyers or sellers at the February 5 deadline. However, something that isn't unknown for the Mavericks is how disastrous this season has been for D'Angelo Russell, as he is continuing to collect DNP-CDs from head coach Jason Kidd, and it doesn't seem like this will be changing anytime soon.

"We’re looking at going young with the group that we have," Kidd said in regard to Russell being out of the rotation during pregame media availability yesterday. "[Russell's] done everything, he’s a pro. He’s continuing to keep working on his game, and when his name is called, he’ll be ready."

While Kidd is giving a PR-friendly answer here when asked about the polarizing guard, it's clear he doesn't have plans on implementing Russell into the rotation any time soon. Fans have been wondering why Kidd hasn't been playing him for some time now, and now they have their answer.

D'Angelo Russell will ride the bench this season — unless he's traded

The only logical chance Russell has at re-entering the rotation for Dallas this season is if the team fails to trade him ahead of the trade deadline and opts to play him more toward the end of the season, when they may prefer to lose games.

After signing a two-year, $11.7 million deal this past offseason, Russell hasn't even come close to warranting the figure he commanded in the offseason. He appears to have lost a step athletically compared to even a season-and-a-half ago with the Los Angeles Lakers, as he's been horrendous defensively in limited minutes for the Mavericks, and has not provided enough requisite shot-making and playmaking to compensate for his lack of defense.

Russell has only appeared in one game throughout the entire month of January, and this appearance came in large part due to Kidd getting ejected early in Dallas' bout versus the Chicago Bulls on January 10. So long as the Mavericks are actively trying to win games, one can't blame Kidd for playing Brandon Williams and Ryan Nembhard over Russell, as both players have fared far better than him on both sides of the ball this season.

While Kidd may appreciate Russell's professionalism and use flowery language to describe how Russell is handling the situation, it's clear that the best outcome for Russell and Dallas would be to find a trade for him, but it could be very difficult for Dallas to cash in on that proposition, considering how rough of an outing it's been for Russell this season. He turns 30 years old in a few weeks, and teams aren't going to be lining up to take on his nearly $6 million player option next season.

The Mavericks could be stuck with Russell, so if that's the case, he should at least assume a role as a spot-up shooter down the stretch of the season, especially if Dallas is in tank mode. Russell wasn't the stopgap point guard Dallas coveted in place of Kyrie Irving, but he's too expensive to be dead money on Dallas' books for two seasons in a row during this apron era. Gear up, though, as it could be a long time till we get another update on Russell from Kidd if he isn't traded by February 5.