Kyrie Irving’s unfortunate injury underscores latest flaw in Mavericks’ deadline disaster

Kyrie Irving’s unfortunate injury underscores latest flaw in Mavericks’ deadline disaster

The last month and change has been a disaster for the Dallas Mavericks.

Days ahead of the Feb. 6 trade deadline, they unexpectedly traded Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in a five-player deal headlined by Anthony Davis. Though Davis got hurt in his first game with the Mavericks, as have other Dallas players, including Kyrie Irving‘s very unfortunate season-ending ACL Tear in Monday’s loss to the Sacramento Kings.

Irving’s injury, however, sheds light on one under-the-radar deadline deal that has put Dallas in a bind for the remainder of the 2024-25 season.

The Quentin Grimes trade isn’t looking too good, is it?

Roughly 48 hours ahead of the deadline, Dallas traded guard Quentin Grimes plus a second-round pick to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for veteran wing Caleb Martin.

As a result, the Mavericks went over the luxury tax and pushed themselves less than $200K below the $178.1 million first apron, where they are hard-capped below due to the Klay Thompson sign-and-trade.

After giving Moses Brown a 10-day contract ($119K), the Mavericks are now roughly $51K away from the first apron, according to Spotrac. Irving’s injury, like most, was completely unpredictable. But given the circumstances, Dallas, currently fighting with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Sacramento Kings, Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors in the play-in race, can’t sign a single buyout candidate to put a bandaid on this totaled semi-truck.

Grimes wouldn’t have been a player to completely benefit from Irving’s absence–it was still without a primary ball-handler. But winning on the margins and maintaining that flexibility–let alone not trading any sort of draft capital–instead what was viewed as a marginal downgrade is what’s important. Nico Harrison and the Mavericks needed to win on the margins. Since the Doncic trade, they’ve done anything but.

Martin still has yet to play in Dallas with a hip strain, while Grimes is thriving with the lowly 76ers, averaging 16.5 points on 37.7 percent from 3-point range. He’s been tossed around in multiple trades over the last two years, but it’s because he’s a valuable cog given his pricetag.

Martin is five years younger and will also be on the books each of the next three seasons at $9.6M, $10.0M and $9.4M, respectively. It’s still way-too-early to analyze the trade, but it’s been a disastrous last 40 days for Harrison and the Dallas Mavericks … and time has told it will only continue to get worse.

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