With just 12 games remaining in the regular season, the Dallas Mavericks are tied with the Phoenix Suns for the 10th spot in the Western Conference which gives them a decent chance at the play-in, though Phoenix holds the tiebreaker and the Mavericks are likely better off losing anyways. There seems to be some internal rift in the Mavericks organization in regard to whether they should bring Anthony Davis back before the season is over and make a push toward the playoffs.
These concerns by Dallas are very valid, especially taking into account Davis’ injury history as well as the fact that it is extremely unlikely Dallas will make any noise in the play-in or playoffs even if they make it in. At the same time, Dallas isn't going to try and blatantly lose games, and the personnel that is out on the court will dictate how the rest of their season goes.
Wednesday night's 135-131 game-slipping loss to the Indiana Pacers would say otherwise in regard to Dallas blatantly throwing away games given how badly Dallas choked away that game, but the game did feature some bright spots. After his ankle sprain a few weeks ago, young guard Jaden Hardy had 24 points on 8-13 shooting from the field in his first game in 16 days. Though Hardy's performance alone won't be enough to override the obvious move Jason Kidd needs to make in Dallas' guard rotation that has been glaring recently.
Brandon Williams should overtake Jaden Hardy's spot in Mavs' rotation
That decision by Kidd will need to be slotting Brandon Williams over Hardy in Dallas' rotation, as Williams has been more efficient and savvy in an increased role with Hardy and Kyrie Irving out of the lineup recently. Williams didn't play against the Pacers on Wednesday night in hopes of preserving the number of games he's eligible to play in this season on a two-way deal, but he's probable to play tonight versus the Detroit Pistons, and seeing how Kidd divvies up the minutes between him and Hardy will be an intriguing storyline to monitor for the rest of this season.
For the month of March, Williams is averaging 18.8 points, 4.8 assists, and 4.0 rebounds per game on tremendous shooting splits of 56.8/33.3/90.9. Williams is also averaging 1.7 steals per game on the month, and given an increased role and sample size recently, it's become readily apparent he is better than Hardy in nearly all facets.
Being on a two-way contract, Williams hasn't always received the most abundant or fair opportunity to shine for Dallas, but he's recently proven that he's at least a quality backup point guard level player after being buried on the bench and G League for nearly a season-and-a-half up until recently. Hardy's had a very up-and-down season, and while he's been slightly more efficient compared to last season, he ultimately hasn't made much progress since his rookie season on either end of the court.
Outside of adding some more strength, Hardy has been hard-pressed to develop since his time in Dallas and his play has mirrored the impact he brought to Dallas in his rookie season. Hardy is only 22 years old, but the NBA is a harsh reality and league, and he's going to be put on the back-burner in the league soon if he can't find a way to evolve his game in the coming seasons.
Hardy's a prolific scorer when dialed in, but Williams has a much deeper overall bag in terms of getting to the rim and being a facilitator, and he's doing so while being two to three inches shorter than Hardy as well. While there are a variety of metrics that factor into perimeter defense, Williams has been a quicker and more stout defender than Hardy without a shadow of a doubt as well, and the only area Hardy has Williams beat in is his 3-ball.
Two-way contract players rarely materialize into rotation-caliber players on the same team who gave them a two-way contract, but the Mavericks have two rotation-caliber two-way players in Williams and Kai Jones, and they need to do whatever they can to retain both of their services from this season to next.
Even though Dallas gave Hardy a three-year $18 million deal at the beginning of this season, they'd be better off trying to move his contract this summer while he still maintains some value as a younger prospect, and Williams fits Dallas' win-now vision far more by being the better player currently at 25 years old.
