By the time the Dallas Mavericks retake the floor on July 30, over four and a half months will have passed since they last played official NBA basketball. At the time, the goal was simple: play well enough to hold on to the seventh spot and maybe get lucky enough over the final 15 games to perhaps jump into the mix of teams ahead of Dallas in the 4-5-6 seeds.
At the time, that seemed like a bit of a pipe dream considering how banged up the Mavericks were. Injuries are a part of every NBA season and were a key reason why Dallas rarely played better than .