5 Things Jason Kidd must fix in the Dallas Mavericks' rotation

After losing four out of their last five games, it's become readily apparent that the Dallas Mavericks need to make some adjustments if they have any hope of making a substantial run in this year's playoffs. The Mavericks have struggled defensively recently despite their trade deadline acquisitions of P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford.

With Dallas being equipped with a much more talented defensive personnel than before the trade deadline, Jason Kidd has been the scapegoat for many Mavericks' fans in regards to Dallas' continual defensive and rotational struggles.

It's obvious that the Mavericks players have to live up to expectations on the court as well, as Dallas' recent struggles can't be solely attributed to head coach Jason Kidd's rotation or tendency to overextend minutes to certain players.

5 Things Jason Kidd must fix in the Dallas Mavericks' rotation

However, Dallas has to do anything they can to put themselves in a position to contend ahead of the playoffs when you take into consideration the draft capital that they've relinquished the past two trade deadlines, as well as the fact that Kyrie Irving only has one more guaranteed year under contract with Dallas beyond this season.

With that being said, here are five things that Jason Kidd must fix within the Mavericks rotation.

5. Dante Exum's minutes

Whilst Dante Exum has only played in three games since returning from right knee bursitis, the Mavericks and Jason Kidd have to figure out ways to better implement him into Dallas' rotation. Exum has played sparingly in the three contests he's appeared in since returning from injury, and his impact on the court has been a far-fetch compared to what it was during December when he was playing heavy minutes for Dallas.

It would be unrealistic for the Mavericks to expect Exum to return to his level of productivity from December when you take into account the new additions to the team as well as the fact that the Mavericks roster is far healthier than it was when Exum was starting alongside Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving.

However, Exum is still shooting 47.8 percent from the three-point line(albeit on limited attempts) and proved himself to be a great wing/point-of-attack defender for Dallas early on in the season. While the ascension of Josh Green as a pseudo-offensive creator in the Mavs’ lineup has derailed the importance of Exum’s creation ability for Dallas, Exum’s defense coupled with his threat as a driver and shooter should warrant him getting at least around 20 minutes per night for Dallas.

Kidd has recently said that he hopes for Exum to keep Exum under 20 minutes for the time being as the Mavericks plan on treading carefully with Exum’s recent injuries, but the Mavericks need to figure out a way to incorporate Exum into their rotation more as we trend toward the playoffs, as he’s been too good to only see a few minutes in games where he is fully healthy.

4. Unwillingness to give more opportunities to likes of Jaden Hardy and A.J. Lawson

The Dallas Mavericks have had many instances this season where their offense completely stalls out without one of Irving or Doncic in the game, and there have also been junctures where the Mavericks look flat from an effort perspective on defense. These instances usually only last about a quarter of a half at most, as the Mavericks are often too talented to go elongated stretches without energy on the defensive end and any flow on offense.

However, the Mavericks could certainly look to interject defensive energy and shooting into the game by way of some of their younger players who are outside of Kidd’s current rotation. A.J. Lawson just got upgraded to a standard contract for the Mavericks after being on a two-way contract, and he’s determined to make a run for a rotation spot ahead of the playoffs.

Lawson hasn’t played a significant stretch for Dallas since December, but perhaps his flashes of athleticism, spot-up shooting, and point-of-attack defense will get him into games down the stretch if Dallas continues to struggle defensively.

The Mavericks could also go to young guard Jaden Hardy more often when their offense dries up, as Hardy is only averaging 14.8 minutes per game this season. Hardy may still be coming into his own as a playmaker and shot creator, but he’s never scared to hit a big-time spot-up shot and has recently looked much more polished in his craft offensively compared to early on this season.

Mavericks fans aren’t calling for Kidd to completely sabotage his rotation by playing Lawson and Hardy all game, but they could certainly be utilized more often when Dallas needs a jolt of energy on either side of the ball.

3. Extreme reliance on Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving during regular season

Luka Doncic currently ranks second in the entire NBA in minutes played per game this season with an average of 37.5 minutes per game. His fellow co-star Kyrie Irving isn’t too far down the list as he ranks 33rd in the league with 34.3 minutes per game. It’s essential that Irving and Doncic play around the 30-35 minute mark in most games, as there aren’t many NBA teams talented enough to afford to leave their star players out for elongated periods of time.

However, Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd could certainly do a slightly better job of managing Doncic and Irving’s minutes as we inch closer to the playoffs. Doncic and Irving have played in games recently where they both end up notching over 40 minutes on the night, something that isn’t always sustainable throughout the course of a regular season.

Irving has already dealt with some minor injuries this season that have kept him sidelined for multiple weeks, so Dallas must do everything in their power to ensure their superstars are healthy heading into the playoffs. While Doncic and Irving can handle heavy workloads and will need to do so during playoffs, Kidd can’t run them into the ground throughout this last juncture of the regular season when you take into consideration that Dallas’ strength of schedule isn’t terrible and the Mavericks are finally completely healthy now.

It’s already inevitable that Doncic and Irving will have to play hefty minutes against good opponents, but Kidd can certainly do a better job of expanding the rotation to get them a little more rest in games where the Mavericks are handling business. From a defensive standpoint, it would also be good to give Doncic and Irving a little bit more rest as it’s not uncommon for one of them to take a possession off on defense because of being overtired, even if both of them aren’t necessarily bad defensive players by any means.

While this isn’t a major issue for Dallas, Kidd could certainly serve to tinker with the minutes that Doncic and Irving are allocated throughout the remaining portion of the regular season.

2. Opting to play too much small ball

The Mavericks have had a tendency to play a fair amount of small ball recently given the re-installation of Maxi Kleber into Dallas’ lineup. Given Kleber's defensive versatility and ability to be an effective spot-up 3-point shooter, it obviously makes sense as to why the Mavericks opt to play Kleber at center against teams who can play a five-out style, despite Dallas still suffering against teams have big men that can stretch the floor.

Given Dallas’ increased depth post-trade deadline, being able to still play Kleber as the lone center in small-ball lineups is a huge luxury. However, Jason Kidd needs to be careful about over-playing this card, as closing games with Kleber and keeping him on the floor for extended periods of time has already proved to have a flurry of negative effects for the Mavericks.

For instance, in Dallas’ most recent loss to the Sixers, Kleber played the most out of any Dallas big man with 26 minutes, with Dereck Lively II and Daniel Gafford only playing less than 20 minutes each respectively. Match-ups certainly matter, and we must take into account that Philadelphia went smaller throughout the course of the game given Joel Embiid’s absence, as Paul Reed was often the lone big on the floor for the Sixers in that game at times.

However, Lively II and Gafford have quick enough feet to stay with many of these floor-spacing bigs, and the Mavericks heavily relinquish rim running and rim protection without the likes of either of those players on the floor. Kleber is still a deployable cog in small-ball scenarios for Dallas despite being 32 years old, but he shouldn’t be relied upon to the effect of playing around 30 minutes per game as he has recently, especially given his injury history.

Kidd needs to do a better job of inflicting the Mavericks’ rim protecting and rebounding prowess over other teams, as it’s just as much of a huge advantage for Dallas to go big against a smaller lineup as it is a disadvantage. Lively II and Gafford have their deficiencies in terms of guarding the perimeter compared to Kleber, but the Mavericks typically aren’t severely out-matched to the point that both Lively II and Gafford should be seeing less than 20 minutes in a game where all of Dallas’ bigs are healthy.

1. Tim Hardaway Jr.'s minutes

After a start to the season that put him into Sixth Man of the Year contention as well as someone whom the Mavericks chose to keep beyond the trade deadline, Tim Hardaway Jr. is potentially having his worst shooting slump of his career during this recent stretch for the Dallas Mavericks. In his last ten games, Hardaway Jr. is averaging 9.7 points per game on 36.0/31.7/83.3 shooting splits.

Hardaway Jr. has always been a streaky player, but it seemed like this may have finally been the year where he was going to avoid a colossal shooting slump or major injury ahead of the playoffs for Dallas. While Hardaway Jr. was unable to avoid a major shooting slump, he’s at least available for the Mavericks ahead of the playoffs currently, a stark contrast to the 2022 Playoffs where Hardaway Jr. missed the playoffs entirely due to a toe fracture.

Hardaway Jr.’s minutes have trended down recently after his recent shooting woes, as he’s only played a combined 35 minutes in Dallas’ two most recent losses. His shooting struggles have still perpetuated despite the minutes reduction though, as Hardaway Jr. seems completely out of sorts offensively.

While the Mavericks stuck to a pretty tight rotation in their last two matchups, Kidd should consider giving some of Hardaway Jr.‘s minutes to one of Lawson or Hardy as we previously mentioned, especially when you consider that Hardaway Jr. has been a net negative on both sides of the ball throughout this recent stretch.

Hopefully, Hardaway Jr. can check back into his flow-state on offense and diversify his offensive attack beyond ill-advised three-pointers as Dallas approaches the playoffs, but Kidd has to figure out a way to get production in the minutes that Hardaway Jr. would normally be getting if Hardaway Jr. going to play less amidst his shooting slump.

For more on Jason Kidd and the Dallas Mavericks, stay tuned as we will have you covered.