Dallas Basketball

Mavs' Team Effort Rewarded with Road Win vs. 76ers; Time to Trade Tim Hardaway Jr.?

Monday night's big road win over the Philadelphia 76ers showed why the Dallas Mavericks might be better off moving on from Tim Hardaway Jr. ahead of Thursday's trade deadline.

Dalton Trigg

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After losing seven of their last 10 games heading into Monday night's game against the Joel Embiid-less Philadelphia 76ers, the Dallas Mavericks shook off a sluggish first quarter to ultimately pull out a 118-102 road win.

It was a total team effort for the Mavs, as superstar Luka Doncic only scored 19 points on 6-15 shooting to go with eight rebounds and three assists in 36 minutes. Kyrie Irving, who returned from a six-game absence due to a thumb sprain, led the way for Dallas with 23 points, five rebounds and eight assists. Josh Green pitched in 20 points, Jaden Hardy scored 17 off the bench, and Maxi Kleber and Grant Williams each scored 14.

Tim Hardaway Jr., Dallas Mavericks
Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

There was a turning point in Monday's game, as Tim Hardaway Jr. got off to an 0-8 shooting start with the Mavs down 33-26 after the first quarter. From that point on, Hardaway only played 10 more minutes and didn't attempt another field goal en route to zero points, two rebounds and zero assists. The Mavs won every quarter after that.

When Hardaway sat down for the final time with the Mavs up nine points in the fourth quarter, Dallas built its lead to 20 to put the game away for good.

As good as Hardaway has been on the offensive end of the floor at times this season, the Mavs aren't good enough defensively overall to overcome his defensive struggles, especially on nights where he doesn't have it when shooting the ball. Hardaway's hot shooting has gotten the Mavs some wins they wouldn't have otherwise this season due to the team enduring several injuries, but they've also lost a lot of games when the pendulum swings the opposite direction.

As Thursday's trade deadline nears, the time has come for the Mavs to move on from Hardaway. This isn't to say the 11th-year veteran isn't a good player, but the type of player he is might be holding back the rest of the Mavs' roster. If Dallas can find a way to swap Hardaway for a bigger player like Washington Wizards' Kyle Kuzma or Golden State Warriors' Andrew Wiggins, for example, it could have a positive ripple effect across the the roster going forward.

Mavs Inquire About Trade for Wizards' Kyle Kuzma; Full Details

Hardaway has been in the running for Sixth Man of the Year this season, as he's averaging 18.3 points while shooting 36.8 percent from deep. However, the Mavs need more size and versatility, and that leaves Hardaway as the odd man out.

After spending five years in Dallas, we'll see if Hardaway is in the final days of his Mavericks era. The Mavs will take on the Brooklyn Nets on a second night of a back-to-back on Tuesday night, then they'll take on the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Thursday after the trade deadline to finish up a three-game road trip. Stay tuned to DallasBasketball.com for updates.

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Dalton Trigg
DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.

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