Dallas Mavericks Should Consider Shutting Injured Starter Down for Season

The Dallas Mavericks have just 10 games remaining in this dreadful season, and they'll be playing on the road against the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night. One of their signature wins of the season came against the Nuggets in early December, as Ryan Nembhard, Anthony Davis, and Cooper Flagg all had big games.

Things are different this time around. The Mavs have officially been eliminated from the postseason, while the Nuggets are in a tight race for playoff seeding. As it stands right now, the Nuggets are the 4-seed, sitting a game back of the red-hot Los Angeles Lakers in third.

After dealing with injuries for most of the season, the Nuggets are starting to get healthy. Peyton Watson and Aaron Gordon have had some injury designations, but Gordon ended up playing on Tuesday night against the Phoenix Suns. With this being the second night of a back-to-back, they may sit some people to keep them healthy, because of how banged up the Mavs are.

Dallas is dealing with a handful of injuries, too. Daniel Gafford went down late in Monday's overtime loss to the Golden State Warriors with a right shoulder contusion and wouldn't return. He's officially listed as questionable with that same shoulder issue.

Mar 21, 2026; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks forward Daniel Gafford (21) tries to keep his balance as he runs out of bounds during the second half against the LA Clippers at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

It May Be Best to Rest Daniel Gafford

Gafford has dealt with a handful of injuries this season, most of them stemming from an ankle injury in training camp that kept bugging him throughout the season. He'd play a few games, then re-aggravate the injury, and he'd be out for a little while. It's been a revolving circle like that all season.

He has been playing his best basketball before this latest injury, though. In Gafford's last 10 games he played, he's averaged 15.2 PPG and 9.4 RPG, shooting 73.9% from the floor, including two games where he was perfect from the floor.

There is no sense in pushing through injury at this point in the season for the Mavs. They're eliminated from the postseason, and they'd rather get a high draft pick, if possible, to add another young star alongside Cooper Flagg. Obviously, the lottery is the lottery, and anything can happen, but better odds never hurt anyone.

Gafford is one player who could have some trade value this offseason as the Mavs try to further clear their future salary books. They may want to look into shutting him down for the season so he doesn't take on an injury that impacts his trade value.

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