Klay Thompson's toxic tendency is holding him back from Mavericks greatness

The Dallas Mavericks can't seem to shake the bad luck they've encountered on their roster from an availability perspective over the past few weeks, as they continue to see names pile up on the injury report and have gone 3-9 in their past 12 contests. For Dallas' upcoming contest versus the Minnesota Timberwolves this evening, the Mavericks currently have eight players listed as out or questionable due to injury, so it goes without saying that the Mavericks are clawing their way to the All-Star break in hopes of getting fully healthy once again.

With Dallas having so many essential players out due to injury, they must do everything in their power to secure victories over opponents that are toward the bottom of the standings, as the Mavericks are realistically outmatched on paper against at least half the league without a healthy Luka Doncic. Unfortunately, the Mavericks haven't been able to do that recently though, as they've dropped games to the New Orleans Pelicans (12-32) and the Charlotte Hornets (11-28) in two of their three last games.

One of the biggest reasons the Mavericks weren't able to overcome a big shooting game from the Hornets in their recent loss was because Dallas simply lacks any sort of dynamic shot creation outside of Kyrie Irving at the moment, as Spencer Dinwiddie has been lackluster offensively recently and all of Dallas' other point guards (barring two-way contracts) missed the game due to injury.

Perhaps the best candidate to incur a heavier workload offensively for Dallas at the moment would be Klay Thompson, as Thompson has flashed the ability to create offense at all three levels this season when he can open up space for himself with his shooting. However, Thompson hasn't been as prolific in the mid-range or on cuts to the rim as the Mavericks hoped for, and he's struggled to create offense for himself without Doncic and Irving on the floor with him.

Klay Thompson's pump fakes are proving to be far too inefficient

One area that has been hindering Thompson from becoming more dynamic as a scorer this season has been his occasional ill-timed pump fakes, as there have been plenty of instances this season where Thompson has or is about to receive an open driving lane or 3-point shot, but subsequently pump fakes or hesitates in the spur of the moment which causes him to get a worse look at the basket.

Thompson's troublesome tendency happened at the worst of times during Dallas' Monday loss to Charlotte, as he had an opportunity to shoot an open 3-pointer to tie the game at the end of the fourth quarter after a missed free throw by LaMelo Ball gave the Mavericks an opportunity at overtime, but Thompson pump faked and hesitated before allowing Miles Bridges to recover to contest his shot attempt.

Thompson obviously missed the shot, but he could've easily sidestepped to the left after his pump fake for a much cleaner look that would've been far harder for Bridges to contest, and it almost seemed like Thompson panicked in the moment. Thompson is shooting a career-low 41.1 percent from the field for the Mavericks this season, and while we've seen flurries of greatness from Thompson throughout his 38 games in Dallas so far, his weird pump fake tendency is just one of many issues that is holding him back from reaching his true offensive potential with the Mavericks.