Nico Harrison keeps screwing the Mavericks in painfully obvious fashion

The Dallas Mavericks are just days away from witnessing Cooper Flagg take the court in a Mavericks uniform for the first time in his Summer League debut against Bronny James and the Los Angeles Lakers. Not only will many eyes be on Flagg as he logs his first minutes at the professional level, but Jason Kidd expects Flagg to run the offense while he's on the floor.

With the guard spot being such a polarizing position for the Mavericks heading into next year, the first move they made in free agency was to sign D'Angelo Russell to be their stopgap guard while Kyrie Irving remains sidelined with an ACL injury. With Irving likely missing most, if not all, of next season, a lot of the offense will be relied upon by Russell and Flagg, which could spell disaster for the Mavericks and their championship hopes.

Nico Harrison has made it clear that the Mavericks are in win-now mode; however, with Irving possibly missing all of next season and a bulk of the offense being relied upon only one natural ball-handler in Russell, the team may need to put a halt to their championship plans after failing to acquire another playmaker.

Harrison's failure to trade for another guard will haunt the Mavericks

In the opening days of the offseason, the Mavericks understood they needed to get one or more ballhandlers to run the offense while Irving remains sidelined and after trading Luka Doncic to the Lakers. While one name likely wasn't going to cross that need off for Dallas, the Mavericks have settled on Russell, and all signs are pointing to the Mavericks not making another move after re-signing Dante Exum.

The reality of the matter is the Mavericks can't compete at a playoff level with just Russell and Exum in their backcourt if Irving is to miss the entirety of next season, and ESPN reporter Tim Bontemps understands this.

In a recent segment on 'The Hoop Collective Podcast,' Bontemps, along with other ESPN reporters Brian Windhorst and Tim MacMahon, took a deep dive into the situation in Dallas and why they won't be contenders this coming season.

"The fact that D'Angelo Russell is the only guard on the roster, basically... it baffles me." Bontemps said.

One thing is clear: the Mavericks' lack of guard depth will likely be exposed as the season wears down, even if Flagg is better than anticipated on the offensive end. Bontemps, who is a respected NBA reporter, continues to harp on the Mavericks for their lack of depth at the guard spot, while also detailing that if Irving does miss all of next season, the Mavs can all but kiss their championship hopes away.

If Harrison was truly serious about the Mavericks being in win-now mode, he would have made it the first priority to acquire another ballhandler on the trade market rather than just re-signing Exum in the hopes that he could handle the rock for the bench unit. While it will be a fun experience with many growing pains, witnessing Flagg's playmaking and running the offense, the Mavericks can't expect other teams to take them seriously if a rookie forward is being relied upon to win games as one of the only ball handlers.

Bontemps goes on to mention that Russell is the only true ballhandler on the roster with Irving injured, and some of the NBA's past champions have exposed that more playmakers on the roster is a better formula for winning. It's unclear if Harrison and the Mavericks plan on trading for another guard in the middle of the season, but with many names already being signed to other teams or traded earlier this week, the Mavericks' odds of landing a game-changing playmaker are slim to none.