Mavericks' Injury Situation Is So Bleak That Forfeits Could Be on the Table

The season can't end soon enough for the Mavs.

Dallas Mavericks Dinwiddie, Exum and Thompson look on from the bench against the Phoenix Suns at the American Airlines Center. / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

The Dallas Mavericks' season has gone from bad to worse as injuries continue to decimate their roster. On Friday, ESPN's Shams Charania reported that Dante Exum will be out indefinitely with a broken hand, adding to the Mavs' continuing injury woes.

Kyrie Irving suffered a season-ending torn ACL and Anthony Davis has remained sidelined since his Mavs debut with an adductor strain. Dereck Lively II, Daniel Gafford, P.J. Washington, Jaden Hardy and Caleb Martin have also missed time due to injury, leaving the Mavs without many bodies as the regular season enters its final stretch.

After the Exum injury was announced, ESPN's NBA front office insider Bobby Marks laid out the potential impacts Dallas' barren roster could have on games toward the season's conclusion. The Mavs do have a number of two-way players who can play, but even their time is limited.

Kai Jones, one of their two-way players, is also hurt. The other two, Kessler Edwards and Brandon Williams, are both coming up on the game cap imposed by the NBA for two-way players. Edwards has three games left at the NBA level before he hits the threshold, while Williams has six. Per NBA rules, two-way players can be active for up to 50 games with their NBA team.

Marks circled Dallas' game against the Brooklyn Nets on March 24 as the date where the Mavs may not meet the required eight active players to play a game.

"If we get to March 24 which is the Brooklyn game or maybe if there's more injuries that are coming, the Mavericks could be at a point where they'd have to forfeit a game," Marks said via ESPN. "I'm not ready to go there yet because we've never seen that happen before."

He explained that Dallas can't just go and sign another free agent if they are in a situation where they don't have eight players for a game. The Mavs are hard-capped because they are just above $51,000 below the first apron under the league's new collective bargaining agreement (CBA). On April 10, Dallas can go and sign a player under a hardship exception because the room they have under the first apron on that date is in line with the prorated veteran minimum exception. The proration for the veteran minimum exception goes down each day and for the Mavs' available space to warrant a signing, they'd need to wait until April 10.

You can see Marks's full explanation of Dallas' cap and injury situation here:

Marks said Dallas could bypass a potential forfeit by having injured players dress for a game but not play. That would require the Mavs to blatantly lie on an injury report, which Marks noted was a potential loophole to the player requirement rule. But it may be unlikely they decide on that path. He also said the league is unlikely to make an exception to the first apron hard-cap based on Dallas' current situation because that creates a slippery slope and potential backlash from competing teams.

The Mavs are battling for the final play-in spot in the Western Conference, currently sitting in 10th with a 33-35 record. Since general manager Nico Harrison decided to deal Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers at the trade deadline, Dallas' season entered a tailspin.

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