5 stats that defined the Dallas Mavericks' season

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The Dallas Mavericks did not have the season they imagined after making the NBA Finals ten months ago. Missing the playoffs was not on the agenda, but injuries and a few horrific trades forced the Mavs to plummet.
Now that we're a week out from Dallas' season ending, here are five stats that really defined the season.
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2,000 Minutes
Only one Maverick played more than 2,000 minutes this season: Spencer Dinwiddie, the guy signed on a minimum contract and only played three minutes combined in the first two games. He was not expected to be a major part of the rotation, but injuries to Kyrie Irving and Dante Exum and the infamous Luka Doncic trade gave Dinwiddie more importance.
Klay Thompson was second on the team in minutes with 1,965, and Naji Marshall wasn't far behind at 1,919. But Dinwiddie leading the team in minutes was not on the bingo card entering the season.
5.9 Win Shares
Win shares is not a perfect stat, but it does encapsulate who impacted winning. Daniel Gafford led the Mavericks this season with 5.9 win shares, the lowest for a Maverick leading the team since Seth Curry led the team with 4.6 win shares in the 2016-17 season.
It wasn't the lowest among NBA teams, with ten other teams having their leads in win shares lower than Dallas, and they either dealt with injuries to their stars (Orlando, Philadelphia) or just weren't very good.
-2.8 3PA; -2% Three-Point Percentage
Lumping these two stats together because they go hand-in-hand. Before the Dallas Mavericks traded Luka Doncic, they were attempting 35.3 three-pointers per game and shooting them at a 37.2% clip. After the trade, that dropped to 32.5 3PA on 35.2%. That's a noticeable drop-off, and it's what happens when you lose one of the game's greatest playmakers ever.
Kyrie Irving's injury only impacted those numbers even more. They were three-point heavy in the games immediately after Irving went down but for the final 17 games of the season, they attempted just 28.6 3PA per game on 34.3%. It's a shooting league now, and these numbers are nowhere near good enough to last in the NBA. But that's what happens when Anthony Davis insists on playing power forward.
444 Man Games Lost
The Dallas Mavericks were one of the most injured teams in the NBA this season, losing 444 man games. The only teams who lost more were the Brooklyn Nets (536), Philadelphia 76ers (519), New Orleans Pelicans (508), Atlanta Hawks (508), Utah Jazz (486), Toronto Raptors (472), and Portland Trail Blazers (451). Some of those teams, like the Jazz and Raptors, were openly sitting players at the end of the season to try and increase their draft odds, so their numbers are more inflated than they should be.
However, no one's injuries were more impactful than Dallas'. No team missed out on Wins Above Replacement than the Mavericks at 14.1, per BBall Index.
-10.2 Net Rating
For further proof that the Luka Doncic trade sunk the Mavericks' season, their net rating swung by 10.2 before and after the trade.
Before it, they had a 115.2 offensive rating and a 112.4 defensive rating for a net rating of 2.4. That's not amazing, but you could still talk yourself into getting healthier and making a run.
Instead, Nico Harrison traded one of the greatest offensive fulcrums in the NBA, and the team had a 111.4 offensive rating and 118.7 defensive rating after the trade for a net rating of -7.4. This defensive effort wasn't winning any championships, but the offense wasn't helping either.
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Austin Veazey joined NoleGameday as the Lead Basketball Writer in 2019, while contributing as a football writer, and started as editor for MavericksGameday in 2024. Veazey was a Florida State Men’s Basketball Manager from 2016-2019. Follow Austin on Twitter at @EasyVeazeyNG
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