The Dallas Mavericks (25-56) play game No. 82 Sunday against the Chicago Bulls (31-49) with a 7:30pm tipoff at American Airlines Center. The Mavericks lost on the road to the Spurs Friday, 139-120, dropping their third in a row and sixth of their last seven. Cooper Flagg scored 33 points on 25 shots and center Marvin Bagley III left with a shoulder injury in the first quarter and did not return. Center Daniel Gafford, guards Klay Thompson and Brandon Williams, and wings Naji Marshall and P.J. Washington did not play.
The Bulls won twice this week, ending a seven-game skid with a pair of road wins Tuesday and Thursday against a Washington Wizards team playing without Alex Sarr and Kyshawn George, 129-98 and 119-108. After starting the season 5-0 the Bulls are limping to the finish line, as young stars guard Josh Giddey (hamstring) and forward Matas Buzelis (illness) have missed the last week, center Guerschon Yabusele left Thursday’s game and did not return (shoulder), guard Collin Sexton (finger) and forward Patrick Williams (thumb) have been playing through injury, and wing Isaac Okoro (quad) missed Thursday’s game. Both the Mavericks and Bulls lost admirably contested games this week to a Phoenix Suns team highly motivated to maintain its grasp on eighth place.
Paint patrol
The Giddey- and Buzelis-less Bulls stumbled out of the gate Tuesday, then found the best version of themselves, pressing their size and experience advantages on both ends and pushing the ball up in transition off stops and turnovers. Collin Sexton, the starting lineup’s only height liability, nonetheless played big in leading the Bulls in rebounding, including four offensive boards. Thursday appeared to be more of the same until Billy Donovan turned to the bench and a small backcourt of Yuki Kawamura and Mac McClung allowed Washington to erase a 13-point lead and briefly go in front. The Bulls woke back up late in the third, attacking the paint and getting to the line to keep growing the lead after subbing Kawamura and McClung back in. In their most effective stretches of this two-game streak the Bulls have sent a parade of players to the rim, including Sexton, Okoro, Tre Jones, Leonard Miller, and Rob Dillingham, while their frontcourt players like Williams and Yabusele have also made their threes.
On the defensive end, Chicago played a lot of zone against the Wizards and it paid off when they needed rebounds to kick-start fast breaks. When San Antonio went to a zone for a few possessions against Dallas late in the third quarter Friday, they forced a late heave from Ryan Nembhard that missed everything after the Mavericks nearly lost it to a backcourt violation. Flagg made them pay with a long jumper from the wing before having his next attempt blocked by Carter Bryant, then Moussa Cisse tipped in a missed layup on a Nembhard drive.
Draft lottery implications
Dallas enters Sunday’s game in tied for the league’s sixth-best draft lottery odds with the Memphis Grizzlies, who lost to the Utah Jazz Friday, 147-101. The Grizzlies play the Rockets in Houston Sunday at 7:30pm. At the same time, the New Orleans Pelicans, who at 26-55 sit just a game behind the Mavericks and Grizzlies with the seventh-best odds, play in Minnesota.
So long, season
The 2025-26 Dallas Mavericks season, in which the losses have more than doubled the wins and fans have had to be satisfied with stretches of winning play and green shoots of development, draws to a close with Dallas in a considerably more hopeful position than many of us would have predicted 365 days ago, thanks to a long-shot draft lottery win and the special player whose name was called first. Inasmuch as contention for individual awards reflects a team effort, his status as one of two finalists for Rookie of the Year provides some measure of validation of this challenging season for Cooper Flagg and his fellow Mavericks.
Flagg has spent his rookie year alongside true pros with championship and deep playoff experience who have shown him how not to quit in Klay Thompson, Khris Middleton, P.J. Washington, Daniel Gafford, and Dwight Powell, and has joined them to will a very strangely constructed roster to 45 clutch games. He has blossomed under a head coach with a policy of exposure therapy to failure so his players no longer fear it. He has helped the team repeatedly force the respect of its opponents, just last night nudging the Spurs to bring Victor Wembanyama back off the bench late. Even if this season is not remembered with much nostalgia, it may one day be seen as the foundational chapter of a great player’s story.
There are always reasons to watch but this is hardly the first Mavericks season that many fans will be a little relieved to finally see end. There were highlights and steps forward. The ownership group righted a couple of wrongs by finally honoring Mark Aguirre and finally flushing Nico Harrison. The green uniforms looked cool. On the court, however, 2025-26 has often felt like a long and frustrating year; even after some big roster changes the team never really solved its three-point shooting problems and only intermittently solved its turnover problems. That said, it’s a long five months before the Mavericks hit the court again. Before hopes turn toward the last first-round pick Dallas controls until 2031, Sunday’s game presents a chance to go out a winner in front of the home fans. Or it presents a chance to marginally increase the odds of landing a higher draft pick in the lottery. Inevitably, this will be our final time seeing at least some of these guys on our side. Enjoy the last taste of it for a while.
How to watch/listen
You can watch the game on KFAA Channel 29, or MAVS TV (streaming), or listen at 97.1FM KEGL (English), and 99.1FM KFZO (español).
