Grades for every Dallas Mavericks player ahead of the trade deadline

10. Jaden Hardy

Jaden Hardy has suffered from the cliche sophomore slump, as the second year guard has had worse shooting splits across the board compared to last year. Hardy's current shooting splits are 38.9/36.0/68.9, but don't make the mistake that Hardy hasn't been extremely productive for the Mavericks throughout certain times this season as well.

Hardy just posted a season-high 20 points in Dallas' Monday night victory over the Orlando Magic, and he looked much more in rhythm with the ball in hands compared to some of his other recent performances. Hardy's playing time from game-to-game this year has been largely dependent on whether or not the Mavericks have their full slate of guards, as he's gotten far less run in games where the likes of Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, and Dante Exum have all been healthy.

Being in and out of the rotation isn't ideal for a young player's confidence, and some of Hardy's shooting performances this season can likely be attributed to that. However, Hardy has looked a lot better as a decision maker with the ball in his hands throughout his sophomore campaign, and he's becoming much more savvy as a playmaker in the pick-and-roll.

Hardy still gets caught ball-watching and over-rotating on defense a decent bit, but he played an extremely good defensive game against Orlando the other night. Consistency is the key in Hardy reaching his ceiling Dallas, but if Dallas' last game versus Orlando is even somewhat telling of how Hardy might be playing going forward, then that could vastly change the trajectory of this Mavericks' season.

Despite Monday night's performance against Orlando, Hardy will have to continue to prove his value to this Mavericks team to earn a higher grade than a C at the midseason point as we can't neglect his drop off in shooting.