The Dallas Mavericks took a stick of dynamite to their roster ahead of the Feb. 6 NBA trade deadline, parting ways with Luka Dončić, Quentin Grimes, Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris while bringing back Anthony Davis, Max Christie, Caleb Martin and a fully unprotected 2029 first-round pick from the Los Angeles Lakers. After that wheeling and dealing, the Mavericks found themselves less than $200,000 below the first apron.

While the Mavericks couldn't have anticipated the avalanche of injuries that they've endured over the past month, they're living proof of why teams need to be careful about getting too close to the aprons when they're hard-capped.

The Mavericks hard-capped themselves at the $188.9 million first apron when they acquired Klay Thompson via sign-and-trade this past offseason. They aren't allowed to exceed that salary threshold at any point over the remainder of the league year under any circumstances.

That's becoming particularly problematic for them, as they finished Sunday's loss to the Phoenix Suns with only seven healthy players.

Dwight Powell, who collided with teammate Kessler Edwards and did not return Sunday, told ESPN's Tim MacMahon that he does anticipate being able to play in Monday's game against the San Antonio Spurs. However, reinforcements beyond that are not on the way.

The Mavericks have the hard cap—and themselves—to blame for that.

The Mavericks' injury issues began mounting even before their trade deadline overhaul. In late January, they announced that second-year center Dereck Lively II had suffered a right ankle stress fracture that would sideline him for at least four weeks. He still has yet to return, although the Mavs recently said he's "progressing in his rehabilitation" and has advanced to individual court work.

Davis didn’t even make it through his Mavericks debut before suffering an adductor strain that has sidelined him ever since. Gafford joined him on the sideline shortly thereafter with a right knee sprain. Star point guard Kyrie Irving tore his ACL in early March, while second-year forward Olivier-Maxence Prosper has "a serious right wrist injury and is expected to require season-ending surgery," according to ESPN's Shams Charania.

Add in ankle sprains for P.J. Washington and Jaden Hardy, and the Mavericks entered Sunday's game with only nine healthy players (including two-way contracts). They briefly dropped to six when two-way point guard Brandon Williams suffered a hamstring injury and Powell and Edwards collided, although Edwards later returned.

Typically, a team with this many long-term injuries could apply for a hardship exception, which allows them to sign a player even if they're over the salary cap. However, the Mavericks are too close to the first apron to do so until the final few days of the regular season.

The Mavs did leave themselves with one roster spot after the trade deadline, but they were only $171,000 and change below the first apron. Once Davis and Gafford went down, they further cut into that flexibility by signing 25-year-old center Moses Brown to a 10-day contract worth just shy of $120,000.

After Brown’s 10-day contract expired at the beginning of March, the Mavericks were only $51,148 below the first apron. They didn’t have enough space under the hard cap to sign Brown to another 10-day deal, and he has too much NBA experience to sign a two-way contract. The Mavericks now can't sign anyone to another standard contract until April 10 at the earliest.

The Mavericks can't even churn through their players on two-way deals (Williams, Edwards and Kai Jones), as the deadline to sign players to such contracts was March 4. They're also running out of time with Edwards, who has now been on their active list for 44 games this season. Two-way players can only be on the active list for 50 games before they have to get converted to a standard contract or sent back down to the G League.

Longtime NBA insider Marc Stein reported last week that the Mavericks are considering converting Edwards to a standard contract once April 10 rolls around. However, he added "health and team roster needs at that point will influence that decision," as none of their two-way signees will be eligible for the postseason unless they get converted to standard contracts before the end of the regular season.

That might not be a concern for much longer. Amidst this barrage of injuries, the Mavericks have now dropped five straight games and sit only 1.5 games ahead of the Suns for the final spot in the Western Conference play-in tournament. The Mavs have the eighth-easiest remaining schedule while the Suns have by far the toughest, per Tankathon, but there's no such thing as an easy game with a roster that's this depleted.

The Mavericks could wind up being a cautionary tale for other teams when it comes to navigating hard caps at the trade deadline. They did convince Davis to waive his $5.9 million trade kicker to facilitate the Dončić blockbuster, but Martin did not waive his, which added an extra $1.0 million to his cap hit this season. Had they convinced Martin to waive his trade kicker, they'd currently have more than enough room under the first apron to sign a player to a rest-of-season standard contract.

If the Mavericks do wind up missing the play-in tournament, the Dončić trade won't solely be to blame. Their decision to swap Grimes for the far-more-expensive Martin, thereby putting themselves in close proximity to the first apron, has limited their flexibility during this crucial, injury-ravaged stretch run.

Martin did make his Mavericks debut in Friday's loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, finishing with two points, four rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block in 14 minutes. He chipped in three points on 1-of-6 shooting, two assists, one rebound and one steal in 18 minutes in Sunday's loss to the Suns, although he's still on a minutes restriction after missing two months with a hip injury, per MacMahon.

Had Davis and Irving stayed healthy, the veteran Martin might have made more sense than Grimes alongside that duo as a low-usage, two-way wing. With both injured, the Mavericks are sorely missing Grimes' microwave scoring ability.

The financial implications of that trade have been equally devastating to Dallas as injuries continue to pile up.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM. All odds via FanDuel Sportsbook.

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