Mavs Coach Jason Kidd Sending Message Ahead of Trade Deadline? - 'We're Small ... You Can't Hide'

Due to a combination of injuries and roster shortcomings, the Dallas Mavericks continue to ride a rollercoaster of inconsistency this season, and the latest edition of that came on Saturday night against the New Orleans Pelicans. Is Jason Kidd sending a message to his front office head of the trade deadline?

The Dallas Mavericks have had a mixed bag of results over the last week with two thrilling wins over the Minnesota Timberwolves and New York Knicks, but also two embarrassing losses to severely undermanned Memphis Grizzlies and New Orleans Pelicans teams.

Now, to be fair, the Mavs themselves have been shorthanded, as Luka Doncic missed his second consecutive game due to an ankle sprain in Dallas' 118-108 loss to the Pelicans on Saturday night. Dereck Lively II, who has dazzled as a 19-year-old starting center, has missed five consecutive games with an ankle injury as well, and Dallas is 4-7 when he doesn't play.

With all that being said, though, it's not really the amount of injuries that is alarming for the Mavs as much as it is their lack of focus and energy when taking on teams they should be able to take care of even while being undermanned.

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

"It's the NBA. You've got to show up every day. We were in this position again Memphis and we responded in the next game. We talked about it -- but give New Orleans credit. They came out, they were aggressive, they rebounded the ball on the offensive end at a high rate. We just couldn't compete, and our physicality wasn't there tonight," Mavs head coach Jason Kidd said after Saturday's dud.

Then, Kidd was asked why his team didn't show up and play physical: "You've got to ask them. I'm just the coach. Tired bodies. We've got guys playing a lot of minutes. We're small. It happens. We've got to learn from it and move forward."

Basically, in our own interpretation, Kidd is subtly telling his front office through these media availabilities that he needs bigger players on his roster if the team is going to be able to avoid games like what we witnessed in Dallas' latest loss. And even if we believe Kidd could be doing some things better himself, he's not wrong. The Mavs do desperately need to upgrade their frontcourt situation, which is so dire with Lively out that Kidd had 6-6 Grant Williams playing center and trying to guard Pelicans' 7-footer Jonas Valanciunas.

Shorthanded Pelicans Use Second-Half Surge to Defeat Luka-Less Mavs

"It's the season. It's going to be up and down. Every team goes through it. Every team goes through injuries," Kidd said. "You play [the games]. You put your best foot forward. You're going to win some and you're going to lose some. But you're going to learn about who you are -- you can't hide. You guys can see it."

With the Feb. 8 trade deadline getting closer, the Mavs still have a lot of phone calls to make. Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam is arguably the best name on the trade market this season, and Dallas has been linked to him several times already. Even if the Mavs are able to pull that off, though, the backup center issue still needs to be addressed as well.

Given what the Mavs have to offer in trades compared to what other teams have, some have doubts that they'll be able to pull off any big moves. But as former Mavs GM Donnie Nelson used to always tell us, trade season is like a "fireman's existence," in that you never know when that bell is going to ring.

Raptors ‘On Verge’ of Pascal Siakam Breakup; Can Mavs Pull Off Trade?

Current Mavs GM Nico Harrison certainly hasn't been shy about answering the call over the last few years when that bell rings, as he traded away Kristaps Porzingis in 2022, which in turn helped ignite a Western Conference Finals run. He then made a blockbuster trade to bring in Kyrie Irving in 2023 to be Doncic's co-star in the backcourt.

Now, Harrison will try to finish putting the pieces together by finishing his frontcourt around his star duo, which is something the fan base has long been calling for and something Kidd might be subtly asking for now.