should we begin tanking right now?

[Smitty]

Tanking would be fairly useless at this point. The best they could do, lottery-wise, would be 11, and more likely in the 13-14 range. While in theory you have a shot at getting drawn in the top 4, it's incredibly rare. Since they went to the current system and odds in 2014, only once has a team moved up from slot 11, and never from 12, 13, or 14. The odds are really tiny.

Missing the play-in in the West does not get you a top 10 lottery slot, even though you are in the bottom 5 in the West, because the records in the East are so much worse.

If they try to make the playoffs and don't, they get 13 or 14 seed anyhow.

They might as well do whatever they can to get a fully healthy team in April (if possible), and hope they can win enough between now and then to get into the playoffs.

I went through this same process today also. Even if they lost 80% of their remaining games, they're in that range you listed. Tough spot to be in. Everything hinges on the Davis news. I personally think we'll hear the same thing we did with Lively. "He'll be reevaluated in 4 weeks." At that point he and the Mavs training staff can assess the risk of further injury and only if the Mavs hold a reasonable chance for a play-in spot, will he possibly give it a go.