Grades for every Dallas Mavericks player ahead of the trade deadline

The Dallas Mavericks are at an improved point compared to last season through 48 games, as the Mavericks have been able to mitigate injuries to key role players en route to a respectable 26-22 record. However, it's not by a wide margin as Dallas is only one game ahead of where they were last year at this point (25-23).

Last year's Mavericks finished out the season going 13-21 from that point forward, but we could justify some of their misfortunes late in the season due to the roster being severely imbalanced after the Kyrie Irving trade unfolded. This year's team can't fall under that same umbrella, as they at least have capable enough personnel to make the playoffs.

Even if Dallas forgoes making a trade at this year's trade deadline, they'll still need to find ways to stay afloat in a very rigid Western Conference. Mavericks' minority owner Mark Cuban pointed out that Dallas best lineups haven't played more than 100 minutes together, so perhaps Dallas is waiting to see how their best combinations fare before expelling too many assets in a trade despite head coach Jason Kidd having different sentiments.

Grades for every Dallas Mavericks player ahead of the trade deadline

If Dallas is reluctant to make a move this trade deadline, it could hurt them in the long run, but only time will tell for us to determine what the best course of action was. Given that we are in the midst of trade season, there's no better time to evaluate the full Dallas roster as a means to see the improvements that the Mavericks as well as their players need to make.

Without further ado, here are our mid-season grades for every Mavericks' player this season.

18. Brandon Williams (Two-Way)

Brand Williams' time in Dallas has been extremely short-lived. The 6-foot-1 guard has only appeared in six games since being signed on a two-way contract in Dallas in replacement of Dexter Dennis. Williams is a very good athlete for his size, and is also a solid playmaker and shot creator, but he only shot 29.2 percent from distance during his lone season NBA action with the Portland Trailblazers in 2021-22.

However, Williams shot 36.9 percent from three-point range on 7.9 three-point attempts per game in 13 games played this season with the Osceola Magic of the NBA G-League before signing with Dallas. Williams looks much more comfortable shooting off the catch compared to earlier in his career when sifting through some of his G-League tape, but he still hasn't gotten any sort of notable run in any of Dallas' contests.

Williams hasn't looked bad in his few minutes of playing time for Dallas, but they've only come in instances of garbage time for the most part. It's hard to do a proper synopsis of his time in Dallas when he's only played 33 minutes total since being acquired at the end of December, and Dallas hasn't sent him down to play with their G-League affiliate in the Texas Legends yet either.

Williams earns a B for his midseason grade because it's hard to evaluate hime both positively or negatively, as he hasn't even played when the likes of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving have been injured.