How much is Mark Cuban to blame for the Dallas Mavericks struggles?

Mark Cuban should take the blame for Christian Wood trade not working out

The Mavs traded a late first-round pick and a handful of players outside their rotation for Christian Wood before the 2022 draft. Dallas wanted to create some roster flexibility, which backfired as they took the chance at adding a talented big man over drafting a young talent.

There was a problem from the first moment, though. Head coach Jason Kidd did not want to play him significant minutes because of his defensive limitations. So Dallas gave up a first-round pick for a player their coach was hesitant to use in the biggest moments. Often, Kidd avoided Wood in crunch time altogether.

Talk about not making sense. At that point, just draft a young talent and develop him slowly. The Mavs would have picked Jaden Hardy in the first round and could have kept the two second-round picks that they traded to acquire him on draft night.

Whether Mark Cuban orchestrated the trade or not, he should take the blame on this one. They acquired a player that the coaching staff did not want to play. There is at minimum some miscommunication there and potentially something worse. Either way, the trade just does not make sense.

Sadly, that is far from the Dallas Mavericks' biggest problem, and things could get much worse this summer.