The Mavericks were 2-1 this past week and moved to 12th place in the West. They split their trip to Los Angeles by losing to the Lakers (129-119) and beating the Clippers (114-110) before beating the Nuggets in Denver Monday night (131-121). Cooper Flagg led the team in scoring over the last week with 24 points per game. Anthony Davis (calf) made his return against the Lakers, while Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington both hurt their ankles and missed the last two games. Kyrie Irving (knee), Dereck Lively (foot/knee), and Dante Exum (knee) all remained out.
For the first time in 2025-26, the Dallas Mavericks have won two games in a week. Even more, this is Dallas’ first win streak of the new campaign, and they have earned themselves their first A grade because of it. If the Mavericks do nothing else, they play harder than their opponent. Maybe it comes from coaching, or maybe it precipitates down from their sensational number one pick, but the fact remains: it is (nearly) impossible to blow Dallas out.
When the Mavericks make shots, as they have for the last three games, they are a fun team to watch. They shot 49.6 percent from the floor and 40 percent from three over the last week, which is way up from their season average of 45 and 33 percent, respectively. Is the level of shotmaking sustainable? Probably not, the offense still looks fairly disjointed. But the defense and effort give Dallas a chance on any night, and when they get a few shots to go, they can beat anyone in a singular match.
I would be remiss to not mention the impact Ryan Nembhard has had since becoming a starter. He is averaging 17.7 points and 5.7 assists when he starts, including a historic 28 points on 12-of-14 shooting and 10 assists to propel Dallas to victory Monday night, a win that came without two starters and a key rotation piece. Dallas has seemingly galvanized around their two rookies (Flagg and Nembhard) and has played their best brand of basketball when they are both on the floor. It was a fun week with flashes of a good team.
Straight A’s: Cooper Flagg
Cooper Flagg is a star in the making. This past week, he has really come into his own and shown what he can be going forward. He is already unstoppable getting downhill, where he shoots north of 58 percent on almost 12 drives per game. He shields defenders off in ways that veterans do, and can find open players cutting or spotting up as well as any guard. He has been the go-to guy at the end of games because his ability to get to his spot off the dribble has been so lethal. Of the top 10 players in total clutch points, Flagg is the youngest by four years, shoots the highest percentage (59.3) on the fifth-most attempts (27), and has made 19 of the 21 free throws he has taken. We are still just 22 games into his rookie year, and it is already so clear what he can be. Defensively, he causes havoc one-on-one and is getting two stocks (steals plus blocks) per game. All of this, and he has not even found his three-point shot yet, and probably won’t until his wrist can heal for an extended time (likely after the All-Star break). Oh, and did I mention he doesn’t turn 19 until the 21st of the month?
Currently Failing: Organizational Direction
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Last week, I claimed that the Mavericks’ best interest would be to get a good draft pick this year. And while I still think that, Anthony Davis’ return and Cooper Flagg’s emergence have made the waters a bit more murky. This team, with any guard play, Davis, and an assertive Flagg, is too good to lose enough games for a top pick. They will beat good teams, as they did in Denver, and be able to convince themselves that they can compete. And maybe they can! We just saw the unlikely Indiana Pacers make the NBA Finals, albeit from the Eastern Conference. But if they do not believe in the current makeup of this roster, then the best time to punt on it is now.
Davis cannot be trusted to stay healthy, and if they’re looking to move on, calls should be made after every game he plays in and finishes. They’re currently ninth in lottery odds, but have just three fewer losses than first. And with the way they have played recently, the tanking has to come from forcibly moving pieces, not just playing the guys they have anymore. Again, they are just 2.5 games out of ninth and playing well, so committing to this team and playing it out could be the path they choose. But if they want to diverge, they have to switch roads as soon as possible.
If Jason Kidd was not intentionally sabotaging Nico Harrison to begin the year, the rotations he threw out there in October and early November certainly did not help Harrison’s case. The lineups Dallas has rolled out since he was fired, and specifically this past week, have made much more sense than the Cooper Flagg point guard experiment. Ryan Nembhard has provided the steadiness that they did not have for the first month of the season. Anthony Davis has almost exclusively played center since his return, which helps the spacing on offense and matchups on defense. And, of course, there has been a conscious decision by Kidd to bench D’Angelo Russell (just 18 minutes in Dallas’ last three games), which has removed the bone-headed decisions Russell provided. Kidd has always been a good coach when he has to be, and he notoriously turns it on around the 20-game mark. The shift in logic over the last week has further proven this theory.