Mavericks are paying a steep price for Jason Kidd's avoidable gamble no one noticed

Jason Kidd has made one of the more under-the-radar mistakes of the season by putting his young center, Moussa Cisse, in an almost impossible situation. Cisse, who's on a two-way contract, is only able to be active in 13 more games before he reaches his 50-game limit of being on a two-way contract. Cisse has been a DNP-CD in 11 games so far this year, and this hurts the team way more than it helps.

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Cisse had a productive night. He put up 15 points, nine rebounds, and four blocks in a win against the New York Knicks, and has played over 20 minutes in the past three games.

The only problem is that Cisse is not going to last the rest of the season solely because of the healthy scratches that Kidd willingly allowed. The Mavs are already screwed with a season-ending injury to Dereck Lively II and Anthony Davis out indefinitely. Not to mention, Daniel Gafford's stock has dipped after suffering an ankle injury that's been bothering him this entire season.

Jason Kidd has mishandled Moussa Cisse's two-way contract

Cisse is about the last line of defense after the latest injuries to Gafford and Davis, and he's been stepping up beautifully, but he's going to have to play more. Kidd didn't learn his lesson last season when Brandon Williams and Kessler Edwards used up their 50-game limit.

The Mavs don't have a dire injury bug, but losing three of your most-used big men isn't easy to adjust to. Cisse is now considered a must-play piece for this team, but he won't be lasting the full season, largely thanks to Kidd activating Cisse but not playing him in too many games this season.

Any game that Cisse was active for, he should've been playing in, and now the Mavericks are paying for this. Their center depth has reached critical levels, but Kidd is having to pick and choose when to play him in an effort to space out his final 13 games.

The only answer left is Dwight Powell, who has been the surprising dark horse on the floor for Dallas this season. Powell might be on his last leg in a Mavericks uniform, but he is one of the only centers available now that there are multiple injuries to the frontcourt. Cisse should have taken over Powell's reps as a whole, but now, it looks like both of them will have to play tons of minutes.

Even though Cisse isn't flashy and still raw as a playmaker, he's a natural shot blocker at 6-foot-11 and can get much better if he stays the course with Dallas. The problem being he's on a two-way contract and won't last the full season unless Dallas signs him to a standard deal. The Mavs clearly need him to play, but his time will expire soon.

Kidd mishandling Cisse is now a clear roster problem that needs to be addressed. The Mavs don't have much of a choice at the trade deadline other than hoping that a playoff team will trade for Davis. According to a hand specialist he saw in Los Angeles, he won't need surgery for his current injury, and could return to action in a few weeks. The Mavs can hopefully get a big man to help out Powell to finish out the season, because Cisse unfortunately won't be the one to do it.

Cisse's movement within the pick and roll will get better as he grows in his NBA career, but he's clearly outplaying his two-way contract. It's not Kidd's fault that three of his best big men are out, but it is his fault that Cisse's games are numbered for the rest of the year.