Mavericks signed the wrong point guard 3 times in a row — and they're paying for it

The Dallas Mavericks signed Spencer Dinwiddie, Dante Exum, and D'Angelo Russell as three of their stopgap point guards over the last two seasons, and both of these decisions have worked out horribly for Dallas.

While Dinwiddie had some positive moments for Dallas, his second stint with the team was nowhere near as positive as the first one. He gave them reliability by staying healthy, but he wasn't consistent enough, was inefficient, and struggled in the clutch. Now he's out of the league.

The Mavericks definitely should've looked elsewhere in the summer of 2024 to give them more backcourt depth, but this signing doesn't even get close to how badly last summer's Exum and Russell signings have gone.

The Mavericks struck out swinging on the guard market

Exum was supposed to be one of the guards who helped replace Kyrie Irving while he is out of the lineup with an ACL tear. The Mavericks always knew that Irving would miss significant time, and Irving was someone who Dallas believed would give them stability while he was injured.

They couldn't have been more wrong.

The Mavs knew that Exum had problems staying healthy, but they rolled the dice anyway. He only played in 75 games over his first two seasons with the team, including just 20 games in his second season with them, but they believed that his third season would be different.

Little did they know that Exum would be out for the entire season after needing surgery on his right knee. He underwent surgery on this knee during the offseason, but due to complications with the original surgery, he had to receive a follow-up surgery.

Exum struggling with availability was a risk that every Mavericks fan predicted before they even signed him to his second standard contract with the team, and this move blew up in their face. With Exum and Irving both out of the lineup, and D'Angelo Russell being banished from the rotation, Dallas is down to just Ryan Nembhard and Brandon Williams as their only two reliable ball handlers.

Russell has only played in one of the last 13 games, with the one game being the one in which Jason Kidd was ejected against the Chicago Bulls earlier this month. Kidd clearly doesn't trust Russell, and the Mavericks' decision to bring him in was likely headlined by Nico Harrison's interest in him.

Kidd's doubt in Russell's abilities was obvious since early in the season, and Russell has gone from playing real minutes at point guard to transitioning to an off-ball role to not playing at all. Dallas has been shopping him in trade talks for some time now, and the fact that they are already trying to get rid of him is a major red flag.

He was supposed to be the Mavs' marquee free agency addition just seven months ago, and his journey in Dallas may be over before it even starts.

The Mavericks' current backcourt problem was supposed to be addressed by Russell and Exum, but they've only added to it. Dallas knew that their guard room was going to be much weaker after trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, but their moves following that have turned this situation into a nightmare.

Both Nembhard and Williams have been productive in their minutes and provide Dallas with two vastly different looks when they're running the show, but the Mavericks deserve some criticism for their last few guard signings. Russell, Exum, and Dinwiddie are at the top of this list, and Irving's return can't come soon enough.