Anthony Davis' return is admirable, but misguided as Mavericks compete for a Play-In spot they shouldn't want

Anthony Davis returned to the floor for the Dallas Mavericks on Monday, scoring 12 points in a 120-101 victory over the Brooklyn Nets. 

Though limited to a 28-minute ceiling, Davis mostly looked like himself against the Nets, his first action since his Feb. 8 Dallas debut. He opened the game with a clean cut and dunk, moved well defensively, and generally inspired some optimism for a team that has been devoid of any essentially since his acquisition.

These are, of course, the post-Luka Dončić Mavericks we're talking about, so there's no such thing as pure optimism. While the victory over Brooklyn and the return of a mostly healthy Davis helped Dallas (35-37) move back into the No. 10 slot in the Western Conference Play-In picture, it's worth wondering whether or not that's even a worthwhile goal for a floundering Mavericks team. They are, after all, still missing key contributors Daniel Gafford, Dereck Lively II, Caleb Martin, Dante Exum, Olivier-Maxence Prosper, and, of course, Kyrie Irving, who will miss the remainder of the season and at least a good chunk of next season with a torn ACL.

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Jasmyn Wimbish

Just reaching the postseason will be an uphill battle. Their competition in Phoenix has won four of its past five games and is far healthier. The Suns, also 35-37, control the tiebreaker and therefore reclaimed that No. 10 slot by beating the Milwaukee Bucks later Monday. Getting that No. 10 seed means two road games -- one likely in Sacramento, the other in either Minnesota or Los Angeles against the Clippers -- just to get to the postseason. Waiting for them there would be an NBA-best Oklahoma City Thunder team eager to avenge last season's second-round defeat to Dallas. The odds of any sort of substantial playoff run here are, obviously, slim.

Davis isn't focusing on those odds. He sees a chance to reach the postseason, so he's playing for it. 

"I seen we were a man down forever, sometimes playing seven guys, six, eight, and if I felt like I was 100% to go play I was going to do that and I stressed that to my team and I stressed that to the organization as well tonight. So we felt I was able to play and that's what I wanted to do," Davis said after the win. "I'm not the one throw in the towel and sit down."

It's an admirable sentiment, especially coming from a player who has dealt with injuries as frequently as Davis has. He feels he has a job to do, and there is unspoken pressure that comes along with that. Jokes about his durability aside, he's not only trying to lead his team into the playoffs, but prove something to a fanbase that is in open rebellion at the moment. Davis isn't Dončić. Some fans will never forgive him for that. But those who stick around will at least see a new star doing everything in his power to help their team compete. It's a good way to win points in a new city.

It probably isn't the best way to approach the rest of the season if the Mavericks have any sort of long-term championship ambitions, though. 

Obviously, there is a real benefit in missing the postseason from a draft perspective. Dallas knows well the importance of every last slot. In 2023, it tanked viciously to land Lively. Had the Mavericks finished one slot lower, that pick would have gone to the Knicks. Dallas isn't at risk of losing this year's pick, but the Mavericks need to maximize it wherever it lands because all of their first-round picks between 2027 and 2030 are gone from previous trades. A few slots could make a world of difference, especially with the flatter lottery odds structure that the league instituted in 2019.

A few draft slots are important, but Davis is more so. We're talking about a player who aggravated a pre-existing injury in his very first game as a Maverick. The "street clothes" moniker isn't fully fair, but it comes from a real place. Davis is a walking injury risk. The stakes this season aren't especially high because the Mavericks are already doomed in the bigger picture. What if Davis, like Irving, suffers an injury that goes into next season while pushing for a Play-In spot the Mavericks probably shouldn't even want? What if the adductor strain that kept him out for a good chunk of this season lingers into next year?

That would be a worthwhile risk if Irving were healthy and Dallas had a chance to compete for much this season. Given the state of the rest of the team, though, there just isn't much to be gained by putting Davis back on the floor. 

It's a commendable effort on Davis' part, especially in a league in which tanking is rampant. It just creates quite a bit of risk with a pretty minimal reward for the Mavericks.