Mavs vs. Suns Preview: More of Same or Much-Needed Trade Change?

The Dallas Mavericks play the Phoenix Suns at the Footprint Center on Thursday night. Will Dallas recover from its losing streak or will Phoenix prolong the misery?

Luka Doncic, who typically has an upbeat personality, stormed off the podium during postgame availability following the Dallas Mavericks' abysmal loss to the Washington Wizards on Tuesday. That's the current vibe check for the Mavericks' season. Moreover, the Mavs are 3-8 in their last 11 games. The Phoenix Suns, without Devin Booker, have a 4-1 record in their previous five contests. 

Dallas faces Phoenix at the Footprint Center on Thursday in what will be a late-night nationally televised matchup on TNT. The two teams are tied at 1-1 on their season series so far.

As a part of the NBA's rivalry week, the Mavs return to Phoenix for the first time since they melted down in their 2022-2023 season opener by blowing a 20+ point lead. Little did the fans know at that time, disappointing basketball would continue to play the theme for at least the first half of the season. Nothing has come easy for the Mavs despite Luka Doncic putting up monster MVP-like numbers, and that's a big problem for a team that had championship aspirations coming into the season.

Regardless of what the injury report reads, Dallas can struggle against any opponent on any given night. No Kristaps Porzingis for the Wizards in the lineup in the last matchup? Didn't matter. 

Booker will likely miss his 16th consecutive game for on Thursday due to a groin injury, and the Suns have four players on the injury report. Again, though, this Mavs squad doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt, and no opponent is an easy outing.

Christian Wood is still out due to his fractured thumb, and don't expect Maxi Kleber's return until right before or potentially after the NBA All-Star break. Dallas must conjure up a winning remedy without its second-best player and the glue to its once-elite defense that has now fallen to 25th in the league overall.

Speaking more on defense, the Mavericks rank 29th in defensive rating in their last ten games. Dallas' better defenders, Dorian Finney-Smith and Josh Green, didn't play in most of those games. However, since they returned to the rotation, Dallas ranks ninth-worst league-wide using the same metric. There is no easy fix with this current "personnel," as coach Jason Kidd put it a few days ago.

No matter how you spin it, the Mavs find themselves, on a treadmill, with a proverbial carrot dangling in front of them, stumbling into mediocrity. They can either turn it around tonight or lose another game to another team dealing with similar injury issues. As Joe Pesci's character famously uttered in the 2019 Netflix feature, the Irishman, "It is what it is."

That is ... unless Mavs GM Nico Harrison can work out some deals before the Feb. 9 trade deadline.

FUN FACT: It's hard to conjure a fun fact during such tumultuous times, but someone has to do it. Despite holding the same record, Dallas has the tiebreaker over Phoenix.

MAVS STEP BACK:

RECORDS: Dallas Mavericks (25-24), Phoenix Suns (25-24)

WHEN: Tuesday, January 26, 2023 - 9 p.m. CT

WHERE: Footprint Center (Phoenix, AZ)

TV: TNT

RADIO: 97.1 The Freak

ODDS: The Suns are a mere one-point favorite over the Mavericks

NEXT UP: The Mavericks face the Utah Jazz on Saturday night

FINAL WORD: "Everything, a lot of things," Luka Doncic, bluntly answered when asked what could be improved on the defensive end. Frustration is an understandable feeling to have for a team who suffers on defense, despite ranking sixth in defensive rating last season, with mostly the same personnel. 

Doncic's frustration, however, makes for a touchy dillema. An unhappy superstar spells trouble. There's not too much to be worried about at this particular point in time, but Doncic is visibly going through it right now and needs to find his happiness again.

Dallas, by whatever means necessary, must find a way to steer the ship away from the iceberg that is the possibility of missing the playoffs entirely.

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