5 Dallas Mavericks players who have been disappointments to start season

The Dallas Mavericks have had a solid start to the season, and the team is sitting at 9-5 after Sunday night's loss to the Sacramento Kings.

Dallas is outperforming the expectations of many to start the season, and they are playing much better than they did at the end of last season. Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic are playing great, but the defense around them has not been great.

Dallas' defensive struggles from last season have quickly crept back into the team, and they must find a way to play better defense if they want to contend in the Western Conference.

5 Dallas Mavericks players who have been disappointments to start season

Dallas was finding a way to win clutch games at the beginning of the season, but they've let some games slip away as of late. The Mavericks have had some players step up tremendously, and others that have not played as well as they should.

Here are five Dallas Mavericks players that have been disappointments to start the season.

5. Richaun Holmes

When the Dallas Mavericks traded for Richaun Holmes on draft night, fans were ecstatic.

People thought that he could be in the hunt for the starting center spot once training camp rolled around and that he'd be a big contributor for the Mavs from the jump. After 14 games, it's clear that Holmes won't be a rotation player, and likely for good reason.

In five games played, Holmes is averaging 3.4 points and 2.6 rebounds per game while playing 6.0 minutes per game. Holmes is only used in garbage time, and him returning to the level of play that he exhibited during the 2020-21 season seems like a pipe dream.

He doesn't seem as nimble, and his ability to protect the rim has been minimized over the last few years.

Although fans likely had too big of expectations for Holmes when Dallas traded for him, he has been a disappointment compared to what people thought that he would be. He is a player that Dallas would likely move if they could, as he is owed almost $25 million over the next two seasons (assuming he opts into his player option after this season).