Vessel said:

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Need to check Kalshi for odds that Markkanen gets a season-ending injury tonight against Houston.

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Odd but true: Lauri has played fewer games than Zion Williamson this year.

The Nets are scheduled to take off soon from Atlanta for New York ... with the Mavericks expected to fly from Indianapolis to NYC in the noon range.

Brooklyn hosts Dallas tonight at 7:30 PM ... with both teams traveling on gameday due to the blizzard conditions in the Northeast. https://t.co/nfKFZHSkPj

— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) February 24, 2026

There was some concern about this game being played today with Brooklyn stuck in ATL and Mavs stuck in Indy due to the snow in NY. Looks like both teams will make it to NY this afternoon before the game. An ugly game could be even uglier lol.

Vessel said:

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Just realized AJ Johnson played 0 minutes yesterday. That's unacceptable. Kidd does not understand the assignment.

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Yeah I don't understand the Mavs thinking here. For instance, they should not have traded for a mildly competent PG like Tyus Jones at the trade deadline. Instead they should be "developing" AJ Johnson for 30 minutes per game.

Go look at the roster that Memphis is rolling out right now. I hate to say it, but I don't see how the Mavs stay ahead of them. The Bulls are looking a bit scary now as well, but the Mavs have 4 less wins so they might be OK. I'm thinking the Mavs finish 8th unless New Orleans can get a bit hot. New Orleans is 4 wins behind but they have Utah, Utah, Washington, Sacramento in their next 8 games. They could start stacking wins quickly.

NO also gets Dejounte back starting today. They aren't sitting guys because they don't have their pick. I think it's pretty likely they move above us in the standings, especially if they beat us in our game against them. They have 7 games left against outright tankers and 3 games left against LAC.

Playing Tyus and Middleton a lot does not bode well for losing games down the stretch. Miles Kelly has enough games left to play every remaining game. He should be at 20 minutes per game and also got 0 minutes the other night. Kidd said he was going to prioritize development, but his actions are speaking louder.

Took one for the team and cheered for the Jazz at Toyota Center last night. Alas, my efforts were futile. The Jazz are really, really bad.

why is this what every nba podcast looks like https://t.co/vfVCLoZAkb

— Dev ♣️ (@GymLeaderDev) February 24, 2026

Wtf

Far too ethical tonight. Game was close late and 0 minutes for AJ Johnson and Miles Kelly.

This franchise better not fumble the opportunity in front of them.

I am not really that upset about these games. It's the games in November and December that we won with AD that rub me the wrong way. They should've shelved him from the first injury this year and told him to kick rocks. We're a bad team, but the like of Indiana, Sac, Brooklyn etc. are just much worse imo.

We're also still going to lose a lot of games. This is perhaps our easiest stretch of games maybe for the entire season and we're probably going to win all four, but then we get back to the absolute grind stone and I think could be looking at another 6/7/8+ games in a row lost. Our schedule is that bad.

Again as long as we end up in the top 8 I think I would be fine. And here's another aspect of this; say we end up at 9 and someone like Utah ends up at 6-8. If Utah is fully healthy, which they will be next year, I don't think they really need another small guard type, and we now have some assets to work with. Dallas could really really like Brown Jr., Wagler or Acuff and call-up Utah and try to make a deal work. We at least have options.

Vessel said:

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Far too ethical tonight. Game was close late and 0 minutes for AJ Johnson and Miles Kelly.

This franchise better not fumble the opportunity in front of them.

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The lineups the Mavs are putting out there are way better than what the other teams are playing (Memphis, Chicago). The Mavs have to stay ahead of Chicago at minimum. Finishing lower than 8th given the stakes of this draft would be such a mistake. At this point I'll take 7th if you can get behind New Orleans and stay ahead of Chicago. 6th was right there but looks like Memphis is proactively taking it.

Unfortunately this draft pick is potentially the last major asset the Mavs will have for building around Flagg. If you get lucky and hit Top 4, there is a pretty clear path to competing by 2028-29. If not, then you still have a chance to hit on a prospect. It's likely that some of these guys in the 5 - 15 range will hit and play at or near all star level. The Mavs need to do everything they can to pick as high as possible in the (probable) event that they don't get a Top 4 pick. It's going to be very difficult to build a contender around Flagg if this pick doesn't turn into at minimum a good player, thank the previous GM for that.

If this goes the worst route possible (10-12+), I think you probably consider trading Kyrie for more assets if you can.

Tksymm7 said:

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If this goes the worst route possible (10-12+), I think you probably consider trading Kyrie for more assets if you can.

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I don't think Kyrie has a lot of value until he comes back and plays. Even then he is 34 with two years left. I think he has more value to the Mavs than anyone else.

I also think that later picks of Bennet Stirtz and Christian Anderson will be capable starting PGs, but won't have the 2nd star upside that Acuff or Brown will have.

Peterson, Flemings, Acuff, Brown, Wagler and Philon will all go in the lottery and would all be a perfect fit for the Mavs. With so many good forwards, one will be available in the 10-12 range. Obviously the Mavs need to do a better job tanking.

I think Wagler with the lottery pick and Christian Anderson with the late 1st would be an amazing draft.

Guitarsoup said:

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Tksymm7 said:

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If this goes the worst route possible (10-12+), I think you probably consider trading Kyrie for more assets if you can.

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I don't think Kyrie has a lot of value until he comes back and plays. Even then he is 34 with two years left. I think he has more value to the Mavs than anyone else.

I also think that later picks of Bennet Stirtz and Christian Anderson will be capable starting PGs, but won't have the 2nd star upside that Acuff or Brown will have.

Peterson, Flemings, Acuff, Brown, Wagler and Philon will all go in the lottery and would all be a perfect fit for the Mavs. With so many good forwards, one will be available in the 10-12 range. Obviously the Mavs need to do a better job tanking.

I think Wagler with the lottery pick and Christian Anderson with the late 1st would be an amazing draft.

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That would be unbelievable and I'd take it right now. But there is no way Anderson falls to 28/29/30. Anderson's stock will only rise as Tech relies on him more with no Toppin. More like Tyler Tanner at that spot, which I'd be fine with also.

I agree. You aren't getting any crazy assets, but you could still get something decent for him. You'd probably get more for him than you would AD. Not by much but some.

Tksymm7 said:

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If this goes the worst route possible (10-12+), I think you probably consider trading Kyrie for more assets if you can.

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How about we not talk worst case scenario until it happens. The Basketball Gods are going to reward the ethical tank.

Anderson is going to be this year's Jase Richardson because I think he's going to measure super small, that makes it hard to project where he'll get picked because some teams will just remove him from their boards completely.

Also count me in on the conspiracy that the NBA will reward the ethical tankers this year. In fact when you look at the past few lotteries it's hard to not think that the league has proactively combatted the worst tankers by sliding them out of the top 3 pretty regularly.

Sacramento and Utah having half their rosters undergoing cosmetic surgery in the middle of the year is a bad look and I'm not sure the league will feel bad at all about putting them 4th and 5th in this draft and telling them to deal with it

I understand there are lottery balls and the thing is watched, but I'm also sure there is a way to manipulate the outcome if needed.

I don't like the Richardson comp for Anderson. Anderson is taller and he's also a true PG, while Richardson is more of a 2. You can't have an off-ball guy be 6'1". Your PG being 6'2" or 6'3" is completely fine.

Tyler Tanner is the guy in this year's class who will fall because he's short. Everything about him says he should be a lottery pick, other than the fact that he's only 6'. He's basically Philon, but 4" shorter.

I think Anderson is 6'2 175 and that's not big enough for most teams.

It's probably big enough for any team that ends up in the 16-25 range to think he'd be a nice backup PG. He'd be a great fit on bigger teams who would like smaller, quicker skill guys like Toronto, Detroit, Charlotte, and Denver who will all be picking in that range.

I think he's going to show that he's really good at basketball and worthy of being picked before the late 1st round.

Rob Dillingham went top 10 and Anderson is bigger than Dilly and is far better at basketball.

Vessel said:

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It's probably big enough for any team that ends up in the 16-25 range to think he'd be a nice backup PG. He'd be a great fit on bigger teams who would like smaller, quicker skill guys like Toronto, Detroit, Charlotte, and Denver who will all be picking in that range.

I think he's going to show that he's really good at basketball and worthy of being picked before the late 1st round.

Rob Dillingham went top 10 and Anderson is bigger than Dilly and is far better at basketball.

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Dilly sucking goats in the NBA is going to make teams ever more wary.

Trae getting dumped for nothing as well.

True that Dillingham went top 10, but I think that was a reminder to teams about how dangerous it is to pick a slim and small scoring guard that high.

I am just trying to say that evaluators will be all over the place on Anderson purely because he's going to measure small. In college Jase Richardson was listed at 6'3'' also. The combine will tell us if Anderson is really 6'3" and how long his arms are which will play into how teams see him quite a bit.

For sure, but it's all about expectations. Trae was drafted to be the franchise. If you draft Anderson in the 20 range with the expectation that he's a solid backup guard, you'll be perfectly happy.

But Richardson is an off-ball 2 and Dilly is a score-first ballhandler. So they basically have to play with at least one other guy who is going to be smaller.

Anderson is a true lead guard, who you can have no problem constructing a taller lineup around.

Jazz just announced that Markkanen got injured in practice and has to have an MRI.