The Dallas Mavericks (19-26) host the Los Angeles Lakers (26-17) on a potentially snowy Saturday night at the American Airlines Center. The Mavericks are arguably playing their best team basketball of the regular season to date and are currently riding a four-game win streak against a wide variety of opponents. The Lakers visit Dallas after stumbling against the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday. Each team has had at least one day of rest in what should be an outstanding primetime game on ESPN.

Here’s three things you should think about before tip-off.

For the love of basketball Mavs fans, no one trash talk Luka, okay?

Luka Doncic returning to Dallas will be weird until the end of his career. There’s no way around that. But one thing everyone can do is not poke the bear. The middle of the season for Luka has always been hard to give a shit about. You know exactly what I mean by that too. Some games, Doncic just isn’t all that focused and he seeks out things to piss him off. Everyone be very, very nice to him. Shout out about how good he is and remind him that stepback threes are a better shot for him than drives at the rim. No Luka Magic tonight (there will be Luka Magic).

The center minutes for both teams

On the Dallas side of things, Daniel Gafford should be coming back from injury, Dwight Powell is always and forever, and Moussa Cisse is a bit underripe in terms of experience. And Luka Doncic loves to hunt a center that cannot defend in space (or is his friend in Dwight Powell). While I don’t think Dallas should send doubles at Doncic like last game, how these centers hold up in the mismatches may well determine the game.

For the Lakers, DeAndre Ayton has hit his expiration date for caring and Jaxson Hayes is limited. If neither bigman pulls their weight on the boards, Dallas is going to eat the Lakers up on the glass on both ends of the floor and that may well determine the game.

For either team the center managing to hold might help pull their team across the finish line.

How long can the Mavericks keep this up?

The Mavericks won five of six games starting in late November. They’ve now won five of six again, starting with that win at home over the Brooklyn Nets on January 12th. The Lakers are not an easy opponent, but I see no reason why Dallas can’t beat them outright on Friday night. The special sauce to winning the drudgery games of January and February is playing hard, and head coach Jason Kidd has the Mavericks playing above their place in the Western Conference. Granted, part of why they’re winning is the red-hot three-point shooting (42.5% in these five wins), but the schedule is shaping up in a way the Mavericks could take advantage of. A win against the Lakers would mean five wins, and they play the Milwaukee Bucks on a short turnaround, but Giannis Antetokounmpo is now out for at least a month with a calf strain, and the Timberwolves have down night,s and then there’s the Spurs… ok, well maybe a seven-game win streak is the length this goes. But a guy can believe, yes?

How to Watch

This one will be on ESPN starting at 7:30 pm.

The NBA trade deadline potentially got an unexpected twist on Friday night.

Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo exited Friday night’s 102-100 loss to the Nuggets and told reporters after the game that he has a right calf or soleus strain.

He said he expects to miss four to six weeks and will undergo an MRI exam, adding that he believes that testing will show he “popped something” in his calf.

Head coach Doc Rivers said after the game that he thought Antetokounmpo was “favoring” his calf for a good chunk of the second half.

“I didn’t like what my eyes were seeing, personally,” Rivers said, according to CBS Sports. Giannis was defiant about staying in. On that one, play you could see him trying to run down the floor, I had had enough. I didn’t ask, just took him out. He actually wanted to go back in. That was a no for me.

“He knew he should have been out. There was no disagreement or anything like that.”

Antetokounmpo didn’t exit until 34.2 seconds left in the game with the Bucks down five. As for what’s next, Rivers wasn’t sure but he expressed concerned.

“I don’t know yet, honestly. He was in the med room. I don’t think it looks great, personally. This calf keeps coming up and it’s concerning. I’m not a doctor, but I’m smart enough to know that his calf keeps bothering him and there’s something that is there and it keeps happening, and that’s troublesome for all of us.”

Antetokounmpo had 22 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists before exiting.

The nine-time All-Star has been part of all sorts of trade buzz this season, but with an injury that could sideline him into March, this could throw a wrench into any potential deal.

CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Cavaliers have won nine of their last 13 games, and still aren’t close to playing up to their full potential. That’s both encouraging and frustrating. Friday’s ugly 123-118 win against the Sacramento Kings showed why.

Head coach Kenny Atkinson has made some crazy comparisons during his two seasons in Cleveland. After Evan Mobley’s 29-point, 13-rebound, and seven-assist performance, he compared him to Shaquille O’Neal.

“Man, I don’t know about that,” Mobley said.

Mobley wasn’t Shaq, but he completely controlled the paint on both sides of the floor.

Before the game, Kings head coach Doug Christie said his team needed to push Mobley off of his spots. That didn’t happen.

Mobley went 6-8 on shots in the restricted area and 12-18 on overall shots in the paint. He was able to get to the basket on repeat, and when he was cut off, the hook shot and turnaround jumper were falling. Mobley is at his best when he’s playing aggressively and making quick and strong decisions. That — combined with going against a weaker Sacramento frontcourt — led to his scoring success.

“That’s what we like to see,” Donovan Mitchell said of Mobley’s mindset. “A lot of times, he just has to go up and be aggressive, and that’s what he was for 48 minutes tonight. He was like, ‘I’m going to attack and make good decisions.’ … Not so much necessarily us continuing to get it to him, but him being like, ‘I’m getting downhill. They can’t stop me. I’m getting to the paint.’”

The offensive showcase extended to his playmaking as well. Mobley has become more comfortable finding the open man when extra defenders have come his way. This is the area he’s grown the most since the beginning of the season, when he had a difficult time handling double teams.

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Mobley was more impressive defensively.

He registered four blocks and was a large reason why the Kings converted just 62.5% of their shots at the rim (32nd percentile).

Mobley was able to make what was an overall bad performance from his teammates look passable. It’s why the Cavs had a solid 108.7 defensive rating with Mobley on the floor on a night they had a 121.6 defensive rating as a team.

“It was one of the most dominant games we’ve ever seen from him,” Atkinson said.

These types of games are in there. The problem is figuring out how to recreate these performances more consistently.

“Sometimes these things happen when you have guys out,” Atkinson said. “We have Sam [Merrill], Max [Strus], and DG (Darius Garland), our playmakers, guys that create advantages. We got him out there with units, especially when we separate those two (Mobley and Donovan Mitchell). Now, no Don, he’s got to kind of do it. I’m sure we’re doing more things for him, but I think he’s just taking the burden. I think it’s a lot of its circumstances.”

Atkinson has been splitting up Mitchell and Mobley more with bench lineups. That wasn’t what Atkinson did most of the last regular season, when the duo was in the 94th percentile in point differential. It hasn’t had the same success this year, and more importantly, lineups without either haven’t worked with Darius Garland not at 100%.

“I get to be the guy that creates offense for us,” Mobley said. “I feel like I’ve been doing a good job this past few days, and I feel like I just got to keep stacking days and figure out where I can keep getting better.”

The consistency isn’t quite there for the Cavs yet either.

They took meaningful steps forward in this game. Instead of turning it over 21 times, as they did in their previous two outings, they gave it away just six times (97th percentile).

That said, they didn’t improve in all the areas they would’ve liked to. Their defensive integrity at the point of attack remains a concern. It’s part of the reason they allowed the Kings to shoot 39.4% from beyond the arc, which is well above their season-long average of 35.2%.

Still, the Cavs need all the wins they can get at this point of the season, given who’s out of the lineup. They’ve done a better job of taking care of their matchups against opponents that they should beat, even if they aren’t exactly peaking at this time.

“It’s not always going to be pretty,” Mitchell said. “It’s at the point now where I don’t really care how we do it as long as we continue to win games. … I think we’ve done a great job of believing as a collective.

“Last year was last year. It’s a different year, different season. This is who we are. We’re going to continue to build and find ways to win.”

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Cody Glass had two goals and an assist, Lenni Hameenaho scored his first NHL goal and the New Jersey Devils beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-4 on Friday night to extend their Western Canada winning streak to three.

Nico Hischier and Connor Brown also scored for New Jersey. Jacob Markstrom made 21 saves.

Linus Karlsson, Teddy Blueger, Zeev Buium and Brock Boeser scored for Vancouver, and Kevin Lankinen stopped 19 shots.

New Jersey went 2 for 3 on the power play. The Canucks were 0 for 2 and have gone four games without a power-play goal.

Hameenaho scored on a goalmouth tap-in at 1:41 of the first.

In the second, Hischier and Glass made it 3-0 with goals 40 seconds apart. Six minutes later, Karlsson put the Canucks on the board.

Then with Conor Garland serving a double-minor for high-sticking Hischier, Blueger scored short-handed before Brown replied.

With 1:48 left in the second, Buium pulled the puck out of a crowd and found the net to cut it to 4-3.

In the third, Glass added his second of the night. Boeser scored with 1:12 remaining and Lankinen off for an extra attacker.

Devils: At Seattle on Sunday.

Canucks: Host Pittsburgh on Sunday.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

SEATTLE (AP) — Cutter Gauthier had a goal and an assist, Lukas Dostal made 21 saves and the Anaheim Ducks beat the Seattle Kraken 4-2 on Friday night for their sixth straight victory following a nine-game losing streak.

Ryan Poehling scored short-handed, Chris Kreider added a power-play goal and Pavel Mintyukov banked in a long empty-netter. The Ducks have three games left on a five-game trip they opened with a 2-1 shootout victory at NHL-leading Colorado on Wednesday night.

Jared McCann and Jaden Schwartz scored for Seattle in the third game of a six-game homestand. Philipp Grubauer stopped 27 shots, highlighted by a successful poke-check on Jansen Harkins’ penalty shot midway through the second.

Gauthier and Poehling gave Anaheim a 2-0 lead in the first period, with the Ducks outshooting the Kraken 13-2 in the opening 20 minutes.

Gauthier scored at 1:02. He broke down the right side, cut inside and beat Grubauer with a wrist shot.

Poehling connected with the Ducks a man down with 4:36 left. He raced down the left side and avoided Grubauer's poke-check.

McCann got one back for Seattle at 1:55 of the second. Kreider countered on a power play 2:05 later, scoring off a rebound for his 16th of the season.

Schwartz cut it to 3-2 at 1:54 of the third, getting behind the defense to tip in Shane Wright's feed.

Ducks: Have an Alberta back-to-back, playing at Calgary on Sunday night and Edmonton on Monday night.

Kraken: Host New Jersey on Sunday.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

The Bucks couldn’t find a way to beat the Nuggets—even without Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Cameron Johnson, and Christian Braun—for the second time this season, losing 102-100. It’s Milwaukee’s second straight loss and sixth in their last eight games. Giannis had 22 points to lead the Bucks again, going 14/16 from the line, while Rollins added 21 points. Julian Strawther led Denver with 20 points.

NBA.com Box Score

Game Recap

The Bucks’ first-quarter turnover issues hurt them once again tonight. After turning the ball over eight times against OKC, they proceeded to turn it over five times in the first 8:36 of the frame. Those turnovers led to a 6-0 Nuggets run to break a 12-12 tie, forcing a timeout from Doc Rivers. Milwaukee finally stopped turning the ball over and got back into the game. Cole Anthony checked in and sort of looked like he did in the first week of the season, scoring the final seven points for the Bucks to tie the game heading into the second quarter at 21 apiece.

With the Bucks trailing in the early goings of the second quarter, they turned to their veterans, Kyle Kuzma and Bobby Portis, to get them back on track. Kuzma scored a quick three points, and Bobby kept up his hot shooting with a three to put Milwaukee up by two. The Bucks were able to extend their edge to five points, but both teams seemingly had a lid on the basket from there on out. Milwaukee went scoreless for nearly five minutes, allowing the Nuggets to take a five-point lead of their own. Myles Turner and Giannis fought back, helping to tie the game back up for the Bucks, but the offense went cold again after that. Denver went on a 6-0 run to end the quarter, sending Milwaukee to the locker room at the break down 48-42.

The Nuggets have received significant contributions from their bench all season, which they needed because Aaron Gordon would play no further part after the first half. Ergo, it was Julian Strawther who picked up the slack for Denver, scoring 13 of their first 16 points. Milwaukee was able to match Denver’s scoring in the early going, but after they got it within one point, the Nuggets went on a 14-2 run to take the first double-digit lead of the game—Bucks timeout. Things did not improve much for Milwaukee, though, with the Nuggets outscoring them 10-8 to end the quarter. That sent the Bucks into the fourth quarter trailing by double figures for the fourth time in their last five, down 78-63.

Denver kept adding insult to injury to start the fourth, ballooning their lead to 23 points just a minute and a half in. The Bucks did trim it down to 15 points with just over eight minutes to go, but the Nuggets responded with a 7-4 burst to go back up by 18 with just over five minutes left. However, the Bucks showed signs of life from that point, chipping away brick by brick to go on a 20-4 run; they got all the way back within two points with 29 seconds left! Tim Hardaway Jr. broke the drought, though, getting fouled on a mid-range jumper and drilling both free throws with 10.4 seconds on the clock, putting the Nuggets back up by four. Rollins played hero again, drilling a step-back three to bring them back within one. Jalen Pickett went to the line with 4.5 seconds left and hit the first, but then missed the second. With no timeouts, the Bucks had to move; Kuzma got off a half-court heave that narrowly missed.

Stat That Stood Out

21-8. That was the difference in fast-break points between the Nuggets and the Bucks, despite Milwaukee possessing one of the best fast-break players of all time in Giannis. The Bucks don’t run in transition much, and when they did tonight, they either missed shots or turned the ball over.

The Toronto Raptors continued their West Coast road trip tonight against the Portland Trailblazers. Leaving the Moda Center with the win, the Raptors have now won three in a row and have successfully swept the Blazers in the season series with a final score of 110-98.

The Trailblazers have been playing well so far in the calendar year, going 9-2 prior to this matchup. They weren’t necessarily an easy target, but a myriad of injuries benching Williams III, Avdija, Reath, Murray, Thybullle, and Henderson have had a cumulative effect. The Blazers were held to a season-low 12 points in the first quarter, and struggled offensively all night as a result. 

Despite the loss, Canadian Shaedon Sharpe continues to have a career season for the Blazers. The combination of his speed, strength, and shiftiness allowed him to get basically anything he wanted on the offensive end. He finished with 21-7-4. Toumani Camara helped along the way, one of the few Blazers who were able to consistently connect from 3-point territory tonight. Clingan helped protect the boards and chipped in with 13 points and 16 rebounds.

The Raptors took a little while to settle in and had their own difficulties offensively tonight, but were able to overcome tight defence and shooting struggles by dictating the pace of the game. They navigated the Blazers’ size easily, getting out in transition and screening cutters to allow them to get shots inside. Despite missing CMB, Walter, and Poeltl, they held their own.

RJ Barrett returned to the lineup, doing a decent job in his first game back with 10 points. Ingram had a slow start but thrived in the second half to finish with 20-7-3. Quickley had another solid game as well with 20-8-7. Mamu shone in his tenth start of the season, leading the Raptors with 22-6-4. This is his second 20-point-performance in a row for the first time in his career. While not as big of a box score contribution, Gradey and Ochai both had solid 10 point performances and did a lot of the little things defensively.

In the first quarter, both teams struggled offensively. Toronto’s ball movement was good, allowing them to get lots of open shots, but the majority of them were left at the rim, starting 6-16. At the same time, they were giving up a lot of second chance opportunities, but Portland wasn’t able to capitalize, shooting 2-20 from the field and committing 4 turnovers early on. 

Quickley didn’t let Clingan’s foreboding 7’2” presence on the inside deter him. He used his speed and shiftiness to create space and cashed in on floaters. He scored 9 of the Raptors’ first 12 points. Mamu was able to cash in a couple of long-range shots in the frame as well. 

The last two minutes of the quarter were broken up by fouls, with neither team able to gain any momentum and ending with the Raptors up 19-12. 

Portland was able to smooth out their offense within a few minutes of the second quarter starting, forcing the Raptors into a timeout and some lineup changes. Scottie wasn’t getting calls and two early fouls found him on the bench. Quickley and Mamu continued to carry the scoring load, looking for someone else to contribute. 

Ingram was finally able to break through the tight Blazer defence and find the bottom of the basket, but couldn’t get much else going. Meanwhile Sharpe, Clingan, and Camara came alive, carrying the offense for Portland and bringing them within a single possession of Toronto.

Toronto answered with an 8 point run. Gradey carved his way into the paint to lay the ball up and then cashed in a long range shot on the next possession. A putback by Barrett to close the frame had them up by 7.

Halftime proved to be beneficial for both teams. The Blazers showed a zone defense and were able to get some two-man action going with Clingan. For Toronto, Ingram started to get going, finding his shots early from all over the floor. 

Unlike the first half, the Raptors and Blazers scored easily. Portland tied things up and scoring went back and forth for most of the third quarter. Ingram made shots and found his way to the line while Love and Camara highlighted. Despite holding a brief lead, the Trailblazers couldn’t maintain it. 

Ochai and Gradey quietly contributed at both ends in the third quarter as well, topped off by a fun lob pass from Gradey to Ochai for the finish, allowing the Raptors to hold a one-possession lead.

Toronto came out with force in the final frame, cleaning up some of the sloppy perimeter defence that had been plaguing them throughout the game and getting the ball moving offensively to get easy shots.

Jrue Holiday was the answer for Portland, making shots from all over the floor to try and keep Portland alive, but each time he made a basket, Toronto was able to keep pushing ahead. An 8-0 run early, followed by a 7-0 around the midway point of the quarter kept them afloat. Scottie’s decision making late in the frame was excellent, finding cutters, the open shooter, or even finding his own shots when he liked his matchup. Defensively he was great as well, with 6 total blocks, including 2 in the final seconds.

Portland fought to the end, but the tandem of Barnes and Ingram down the stretch gave Toronto the win.

Next, Toronto completes their road trip on Sunday against another team led by a Canadian in the Oklahoma City Thunder with MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Tune into TSN at 7pm ET to catch all the action.

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Hendrix Lapierre ended a 90-game goal drought, Alex Ovechkin had an empty-netter and the Washington Capitals beat the Calgary Flames 3-1 on Friday night to end a four-game losing streak.

Aliaksei Protas also scored and Logan Thompson made 25 saves against his hometown town.

Morgan Frost scored for Calgary, and Devin Cooley stopped 35 shots. In the third, Cooley denied defenseman Jacob Chychrun's lacrosse-style wraparound attempt on a power play.

Protas broke a tie at 7:35 of the third. When Cooley slid to his left to defend against Tom Wilson, a rebound squirted out to the Belarusian, who fired the puck into an open net.

Lapierre tied it at 1 at 6:33 of the second. John Carlson's shot deflected off the leg of Yan Kuznetsov and onto Lapierre’s stick for the 23-year-old’s first goal since March 18, 2024, which also happened to be against Calgary. He has 10 career goals,

Calgary countered a Washington short-handed, odd-man rush with a power-play goal on the Flames’ next trip down the ice. Frost bear Thompson with a wrist shot below the goalie’s outstretched stick at 6:09 of the first.

Capitals: At Edmonton on Saturday night.

Flames: Host Anaheim on Sunday night.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Giannis Antetokounmpo's future is the conversation that is dominating the NBA. But his immediate health is now also a concern for the Milwaukee Bucks.

Antetokounmpo could not finish out Friday night's game against the Denver Nuggets as his team was mounting a frantic comeback that ultimately fell just short.

The injury appeared to occur as Antetokounmpo was heading back up the court in the final minute.

Giannis non contact injury.

He was running down the floor and didn’t seem okay at all, he has been struggling all night 💔 pic.twitter.com/Z4FmoARNWr

— SM Highlights (@SMHighlights1) January 24, 2026

He initially headed off to the locker room before returning to watch the finish on the bench. He briefly walked onto the court during a delay in the action but did not play the final 34.2 seconds.

pic.twitter.com/qyd3GH6miY

— Follow @AyyEnaz (@EnazVideos) January 24, 2026

Milwaukee had a chance to win at the buzzer, but Kyle Kuzma's 3-point heave clanked off the rim. The shorthanded Nuggets hung on for a 102-100 win.

Antetokounmpo did not appear to be 100% physically even before he was forced from the game. Earlier in the fourth quarter, Antetokounmpo walked up the court during a possession that ended with a Ryan Rollins 3-pointer. Denver called timeout after the make with 8:06 to go. Antetokounmpo remained in the game, though, when play restarted.

The two-time MVP and 2021 Finals MVP had made an earlier (brief) trip to the locker room during play in the first quarter. And, per Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, part of the USA TODAY Network, Antetokounmpo played just 6 minutes in the third quarter.

Thanasis Antetokounmpo consoling his brother Giannis while he's injured on the bench ❤️ pic.twitter.com/zkO9TsrJOp

— NBA on Prime (@NBAonPrime) January 24, 2026

Giannis Antetokounmpo injury update

Bucks coach Doc Rivers said Antetokounmpo has a calf injury.

"I thought he was favoring it for most of the second half, personally," Rivers said. "I asked our team five different times ... I didn't like what my eyes were seeing, personally. Giannis was defiant about staying in.

"On that one play, you can see him trying to run down the floor, to me, I had had enough. I didn't ask, I just took him out. He actually wanted to go back in, it just ... that was a no from me."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Giannis Antetokounmpo injury update, what we know