The Dallas Mavericks’ season is already over even if there’s still five months and more than 70 games remaining in the 2025-26 campaign. The Mavs are off to a disastrous 3-7 start despite playing the NBA’s third easiest schedule so far. Dallas has lost to the tanking Washington Wizards, the hapless New Orleans Pelicans, and the sinking Memphis Grizzlies to open the season, and they barely beat the 1-9 Indiana Pacers.
Dallas’ offense ranks No. 29 in the NBA. They are one of the league’s worst teams are taking and making three-pointers, grabbing offensive rebounds, and generating assists. The Mavs are losing the possession game on a nightly basis and they are arguably the worst shot-making team in basketball. They struggle to produce paint touches without a real point guard on the roster as Kyrie Irving recovers from a torn ACL. The defense enters the week No. 4 in the NBA, but while this franchise believes “defense wins championships” it’s becoming clear that it doesn’t win regular season games when the offense is this pathetic.
The Mavs have somehow found a way to thread the needle of being the NBA’s saddest franchise while employing one of the league’s brightest young stars at the start of his career. Dallas cashed in on a miracle 1.8 percent chance to win the lottery for Cooper Flagg, and he’s had a rough start to his career. Flagg’s scoring efficiency is absolutely abysmal (49.5 percent true shooting as league-average is 58.2 percent), he almost has as many turnovers as assists, and the defense has been 10 points per 100 possessions with him off the floor. Flagg is the youngest player in the NBA this season after spending only three years in high school, and he’s also playing out of position as a de facto point guard for the first time in his life. He’s going to be excellent eventually, and these extra on-ball reps right now should only help him grow long-term. It’s just an enormous bummer that this “generational” prospect is going through a lost rookie year and looking at a grim team context going forward without some difficult decisions and a lot of luck over the next eight months.
The fanbase that gets to root for Flagg should be overjoyed, but of course Mavericks fans remain miserable because the infamous trade that was made before he arrived. Luka Doncic continues to haunt Dallas, and at this point there’s no doubt that it will go down as one of the worst trades in the history of sports. My original D+ grade for Dallas in the deal was far, far too generous, and I’m frankly a bit embarrassed I didn’t give it an F. Doncic flirting with 40-point triple-doubles for the Los Angeles Lakers every night to open the season only adds salt to the wound. His presence hangs over this franchise like a ghost, and they can’t move on until the mess is finally cleaned up.
The day after the Mavs won the draft lottery, I laid out a plan for how to build around Flagg: 1) fire Nico Harrison, 2) trade Anthony Davis, 3) start to build the asset chest for the long haul. It appears that the Mavericks might be ready to take the first step, and if they’re smart the next two will quickly follow.
NBA insider Marc Stein reported that it’s become “unavoidable at the highest levels” that the Mavs need to consider firing Harrison. ESPN’s Tim MacMahon followed by saying that there’s a “very very strong likelihood” that Harrison will be fired during this season. The Doncic trade will be Harrison’s legacy, and I fear it will survive long after anyone reading this post is dead. This the modern NBA’s version of the Red Sox trading Babe Ruth to the Yankees, and not even Flagg is going to make Dallas fans forget about it.
The reality is that the Mavs have already damaged the Flagg era by waiting this long to fire Harrison. In news that will surprise no one, Davis is already missing games this season as he deals with a calf injury. Davis turns 33 years old in March, and he started the season about 20 pounds overweight. He’s under contract for $58.4 million next season with a $62.7 million player option for 2027-28. Klutch Sports mouthpiece ESPN insider Shams Charania guessed that Davis could return four first-round picks in a trade earlier this offseason. At this point, even two firsts feels too rich for Davis, and he may quickly be verging on being a negative asset.
The Mavs can only tank for this season. Dallas does not control its first-round pick in 2027, 2028, 2029, and 2030. I’m already thinking about Flagg playing on the qualifying offer at the end of his rookie contract and signing with his hometown Boston Celtics in free agency. Dallas can still save the Flagg era, but they have to act quick and nail everything from now on. Once Nico is fired, the fun starts.
What does the Anthony Davis trade market look like?
It’s not easy to find a landing spot for Davis that actually works in terms of both salary matching and appropriate draft compensation. Ironically, I think the Lakers are the best on-court fit for Davis, but making that trade would be totally untenable for the GM that proceeds Harrison, plus the Lakers only have one unprotected first round pick to offer right now.
LeBron James + an unprotected 2032 first-round pick works. I hate this trade and it will never happen:
Here’s a couple other potential Davis suitors:
- Chicago Bulls: The Bulls are the NBA’s biggest surprise, and Davis is a Chicago native. The Bulls’ biggest hole is rim protection and Davis could solve that problem, but his unwillingness to play center full-time would be a hindrance. Chicago could trade Coby White if it doesn’t want to pay him in free agency because it already has a lot of guards. Throw in Nikola Vucevic and Jalen Smith, plus an unprotected first-round pick in 2027, plus Portland’s lottery-protected first-round, and the salaries work. I personally do not love this for the Bulls — why ruin a good thing? can Davis ever play 60 games in a season again? — but it’s something to think about.
- Toronto Raptors: Toronto wants to compete in the East this year and they have both the draft picks and the contracts to land Davis. Point guard is the Raptors’ biggest need, but I’m jus throwing this out there.
- Portland Trail Blazers: Hey, AD could actually play the four here. The Blazers have a few young players they could throw in here but something like this works.
- Miami Heat: The Heat are always star-hunting, and they might be the only franchise that could get Davis in shape and able to stay on the court. Eh?
Who else can Dallas trade?
Every single player on the roster outside of Flagg should be on the trade block. I’d keep Dereck Lively II and Max Christie to pair with Flagg long-term, but the rest of this roster should be auctioned off for draft picks. These players should have decent value around the league even if they aren’t returning future first-round picks:
- Daniel Gafford
- Klay Thompson
- PJ Washington
- Naji Marshall
And what happens to Kyrie? The Mavs could keep him around to aid Flagg’s development, but at this stage of his career Irving probably only wants to compete for championships. He should probably just be traded this offseason, too.
The Mavs are in a really, really bad situation. This team is listening to “Marvin’s Room” in the pregame locker room and that alone is enough to blow this whole thing up. Nico Harrison should be fired tomorrow, even if this mess is really governor Patrick Dumont’s fault. The Mavs have to act fast, because every day they wait their long-term situation around Flagg gets worse and worse.
