We’re so shut to the top of a dreadful 2025-26 season of Dallas Mavericks basketball that we are able to style it.
Wednesday’s sport between the Mavericks (25-54) and the Phoenix Suns (43-35) at Mortgage Matchup Center wraps up the ultimate back-to-back set for Dallas with three video games remaining on the schedule. The Mavs are coming into the sport on the heels of Tuesday’s 116-103 loss on the Los Angeles Clippers, whereas the Suns are available in on one night time’s relaxation after dropping a sport to the Houston Rockets, 119-105.
Cooper Flagg’s brilliance within the two video games before Tuesday’s loss has saved the flailing Mavericks within the wider NBA dialog, as opinions fly in each route in regards to the NBA Rookie of the Year race. His 25 factors on 9-of-25 capturing in opposition to the Clippers isn’t fairly as robust an argument for his candidacy, however he’s nonetheless filling up the stat sheet on a nightly foundation because the season winds down.
The Suns shall be motivated to win Wednesday’s sport, because the Clippers sit simply two video games again of Phoenix for the seventh seed within the Western (*3*), with the playoff image coming into focus. The Mavericks’ motivation, as is properly documented, is just for higher draft lottery odds at this level.
This needs to be a reasonably simple handshake deal between two erstwhile rivals.
The Mavericks’ try-hard tendency is admirable. The guys on the courtroom are opponents, and it’s resulted in a 16-27 report in clutch video games this season.
But the unstated goal is evident: acquire the very best odds to get as excessive a decide as attainable within the upcoming NBA Draft. Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd wants to look at the top of the roster as intently as attainable within the final three video games of the season so as to give this group its finest probability to discover some upward trajectory subsequent season.
The Mavericks and the Suns tip off from Mortgage Matchup Center at 9 p.m. CDT. The sport shall be televised domestically on KFAA Channel 29 and on sister stations all through the Mavericks’ regional viewership space. You can catch the stream on MavsTV and on NBA League Pass the place accessible.
