It is hard to decide whether to laugh at or to pity the Dallas Mavericks at this point.
The Mavericks found themselves in an extremely difficult position for Wednesday’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks. Dante Exum (foot) and Kai Jones (quad) were ruled out for the contest, joining seven other Mavs (who are out with longer-term issues) on the injury list. As a result, Dallas had to play against Milwaukee with only eight active players.
A viral photo from the game showed that, at one point, the Mavs bench was almost entirely empty due to the lack of manpower. The photo showed only Kessler Edwards and Jones (who was in street clothes) occupying the bench. Take a look below.
A video taken at another point in the contest showed the Dallas bench looking slightly more populated (but still with several empty seats).
In addition to Exum and Jones, the Mavs were without Kyrie Irving (torn ACL), Caleb Martin (hip), PJ Washington (ankle), Jaden Hardy (ankle), Anthony Davis (adductor), Daniel Gafford (knee), and Dereck Lively II (foot). As a result, they (predictably) went down big to the Bucks from the early going, taking a 72-53 deficit into halftime.
Dallas has truly suffered through a biblical plague of injuries this season. But many rival fans might not be very sympathetic to the organization after their franchise-altering trade of Luka Doncic last month for a centerpiece in Davis who was already known to be very injury-prone. Still, you have to at least feel for the Mavericks fanbase as the barrage of injuries [has had them going through it on social media](https://larrybrownsports.com/basketball/mavericks-kyrie-irving-injury-mavs-fans/684848).