Mavericks face glaring P.J. Washington problem Dallas can't afford to ignore

The Dallas Mavericks probably had the worst luck in the entire association when it came to injuries last season, as the tip of the iceberg for the Mavericks was when Kyrie Irving tore his left ACL on March 3 versus the Sacramento Kings. However, many Mavericks fans know just how depleted Dallas' frontcourt was all season long last year as well, as Dereck Lively II, Daniel Gafford, and Anthony Davis all missed a ton of games down the stretch.

Another player who may have gone a little more under the radar in terms of missing time in Dallas' frontcourt last season was P.J. Washington, as Washington missed a decent chunk of time through January-March last season with a right knee sprain and a right ankle sprain.

Washington's importance as a ball handler and 3-point shooter has never been higher for the Mavericks with Luka Doncic out the door and Irving set to miss an indefinite amount of time next season, so Dallas will hope that Washington is far more durable next season.

Mavericks must hope P.J. Washington is more durable going forward

It must be noted that Washington has been pretty durable throughout his career, as he'd played in 64 games or more in every season of his career barring the Covid year, and it's very likely he would've surged well above that number if the 2019-20 season wasn't shortened given he was already at 58 games played, even though it was his rookie season.

Taking that into account, Washington missed the most games in his career last season by a long shot, as he only played 57 games for the Mavericks last season, which equates to nearly one-third of the season missed. While it wasn't all lower leg injuries that kept Washington out of the lineup last season, as he missed a few games due to illnesses and personal reasons, it was fairly concerning that most of the games he missed were due to lower leg injuries on his right leg.

By no means was Washington the most unreliable Maverick in terms of staying on the court last season, but the Mavericks must hope and pray for better injury luck when it comes to Washington next season, as they need him hitting his stride on both sides of the ball as they approach the playoffs if they want to have any chance of making some sort of run next season, as Washington is one of the most important high-end role players in the league and on the Mavericks.

Washington was steady in his minutes last year, and proved he could replicate his catch-and-shoot success from outside in the 2024 playoffs over the course of a whole season last year as well, but he had a very rough end to his season after scoring zero points versus the Memphis Grizzlies in Dallas' season-ending play-in loss.

Washington had been keeping the Mavericks alive in many games toward the end of the season up to that point, as he was playing great in a far increased ball-handling role after he returned from injury in mid-March. While he may not have to handle the ball that much next season given how injury-riddled the Mavericks were at that point, Dallas will be relying upon him as their best wing defender as well as someone who can knockdown open 3-pointers and create his own offense on occasion next season, so they need him to be more durable, especially with Cooper Flagg incoming and there potentially being some positional overlap between him and Washington if Washington has a rough season next year.