The Mavericks' rotational center played in the fewest number of games since his 2020-21 season.
There were multiple things that impacted the Dallas Mavericks' poor 2025-26 season, but most people within the organization will turn back to the unfortunate injury luck that the roster dealt with throughout.
Among them were most notably Kyrie Irving and Dereck Lively II, who played just seven games combined (all from Lively). Specifically, in Lively's case, the Mavs were forced to get creative with their front-court lineups, which is a coincidence given how Dallas had one of the best interior trios of Anthony Davis, Lively, and Daniel Gafford at the start of the season.
Davis missed time of his own before he was traded, and with Lively ruled out for the season, a lot of pressure was placed on Gafford to be a reliable force on the inside. It was ultimately a workload that took a toll on his right ankle, which was sprained during training camp and greatly impacted his overall health for months to follow.
"It was tough," Gafford said to Mavs.com. "Of course, it was a terrible circumstance just trying to figure out ways just to be able to play like I usually play with an ankle that’s as big as it was."
Gafford played in 55 of the Mavs' 82 games this year, which is the least he's appeared in in a season since the 2020-21 season he spent with the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards.
"My ankle was as big as a softball when I first started back playing when I came back from it. But I really just stayed motivated," he said.
The former second-round pick in 2019 averaged 9.5 points and 6.9 rebounds per game on 65.5 percent shooting from the field. He also provided good leadership to rookies who were thrust into a prominent rotational role such as Cooper Flagg, Ryan Nembhard and Moussa Cisse.
Gafford ended up relying on them just as much to help him through his rehab.
"I’ve got a lot of good guys around me when it comes to the team that I’m on. And day-in, day-out, night-in, night-out, those guys always motivated me just to keep playing."
Of course, those same teammates often dealt with their own bumbs and bruises throughout the season, so the joint trauma served somewhat as a bonding mechanism for the players.
"They saw what I was going through. I saw what they were going through throughout their injuries, their mental lapses," Gafford said. "It was just kind of like a game of tug or war - whoever can just motivate each other the best."
Dallas ended the season 30 games under .500 at 26-56, the franchise's worst record since 2017-18. Gafford missed the team's final four games with a shoulder ailment, but despite the losses, he enjoyed the camaraderie.
"Of course, you would always come to a job and say you never know what you’re going to expect on a day-to-day basis," he said. "But when you come in with a team like this, it’s great energy, great atmosphere. Like I said, despite what we were going through throughout the season, we always came in with a smile on our face. We always found some type of way to make each other laugh. That was the best thing."
Mavs Have Future Front-Court Decision to Make After Injury-Plagued Season
It's unclear whether the Mavs will continue prioritizing both Gafford and Lively as the core front-court pieces amid their injury troubles, but that's first due to the organization having not yet landed a new permanent director of basketball operations.
But now more than ever, the NBA is molding into a newfound appreciation for big-man depth. Dallas still has a solid pair here, but their lack of availability could be a concern if this trend continues.
Gafford signed a three-year, $54 million contract extension with the Mavs last offseason. The two years remaining on his deal overlap Lively's club option that Dallas has picked up for the 2026-27 year before he is a restricted free agent.
Regardless, Gafford is turning his attention to the optimism and belief the Mavs have heading into a new season.
"This is a lot of motivation going into the next season, really just going into the offseason," he said. "It’s kind of like just laughing at it because obviously it wasn’t our best [with injuries]. But we stuck through it, we stayed resilient through the highs and the lows, we stayed together as a team, and we came in to do our job every day happy. Once we kind of come back full force with everybody, I feel like it’s going to be a good year for us next year.”
