With All-Star Weekend come and gone, the Dallas Mavericks get back to playing games that count on Friday against the Lakers. Their record stands at 18-40. This technically slots them just behind the Suns and Hawks at third from the bottom, but the worst kept secret around the NBA is that this is shaping up to be an epic tanking showdown. Dallas is one of six teams with a league-low 18 wins, but there are as many as nine teams who it seems fair to say will be losing as often as possible over the final months of the season.