One depressing stat exposes just how bad the Mavericks' start has been

The Dallas Mavericks are 2-6 through eight games, and it looks like it could be a long season.

Nov 3, 2025; Houston, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd and forward Dwight Powell (7) watch play against the Houston Rockets the second quarter at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Shea-Imagn Images | Thomas Shea-Imagn Images

The Dallas Mavericks are in a tough spot early in the 2025-26 NBA regular season. After dropping their third straight game on Wednesday evening, the Mavericks are 2-6 overall and searching for some kind of life.

Dallas has failed to crack 100 points in three of its six losses, culminating in a 101-99 home loss to the New Orleans Pelicans. The Pelicans, one of the worst teams in the league, defeated the Mavericks without Zion Williamson and Jordan Poole in the lineup.

READ MORE: Dallas Mavericks looking to break horrific drought against Memphis Grizzlies

Without the services of star point guard Kyrie Irving, the Mavericks are bogging down on offense. There aren't enough capable ball-handlers on the team, and asking No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg to take such a key role in starting possessions is only setting the rookie up for failure.

The struggles have been magnified as Dallas's inability to get it done on the offensive end has the team flirting with an NBA record, and not in a good way.

Mavericks' Relative Offensive Rating Is Worst In NBA History

Nov 5, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg (32) dribbles during the second half against the New Orleans Pelicans at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images | Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

According to Basketball Reference, the Mavericks have posted a relative offensive rating of -11.8 through eight games. That mark would be the worst in NBA history if it holds up for the entire season.

Relative offensive rating is essentially a comparison to the league average. That means Dallas isn't even close to the middle of the pack. The Mavericks are flat-out bad at executing on offense, at an amazingly poor level.

The Mavs currently have the worst relative offensive rating in NBA history, according to @bball_ref. pic.twitter.com/FMt2cDE4Jh

— Bobby Karalla (@bobbykaralla) November 6, 2025

Of the 19 NBA teams to finish a season with a relative offensive rating of -7.5 or worse, none won more than 27 games. The Mavericks posted a -8.5 relative offensive rating in 1992-93, a season where they finished 11-71 and drafted Jamal Mashburn with the No. 4 pick in the 1993 NBA Draft.

So far this year, Dallas ranks No. 27 in the league in assists per game (23.4) and No. 24 in turnovers per game (16.1). The Mavericks also sit in the bottom-five in field goal percentage (44%) and three-point percentage (31.5%)

Dallas will try to move past some of its recent struggles when the Mavericks travel to Memphis for the first leg of a back-to-back on Friday night.

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