Little Lauri has a bruise

Utah's Lauri Markkanen will be re-evaluated in two weeks after an MRI on Thursday showed symptomatic hip impingement with associated inflammation and bone bruise, sources tell ESPN. Markkanen also twisted an ankle in practice Wednesday but those tests returned clean.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 27, 2026

Jason Kidd says Khris Middleton feels like giving Cooper Flagg vet advice is a wash because he ‘already passed him’ 😭

“I’ve been talking to him a lot about how he can help Coop. He feels like he can’t help Coop because Cooper has already passed him. He’s got a good sense of… pic.twitter.com/pkzP1NAVDY

— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) February 27, 2026

Honestly amazed we lost these last two games after starting Tank Off Week 2-0.

Went to the game tonight and that might be the sloppiest NBA game I've ever witnessed.

Was not surprised to see that. They played hard as hell last night, and then a game tonight? Was bound to be an eye sore. I expect a lot of this over the next month.

The Mavericks are waiving recently acquired guard Tyus Jones, @TheSteinLine has learned.

The move will allow Jones to seek out a playoff team and open up a roster spot for Dallas to explore its late-season options … including converting Ryan Nembhard to a standard NBA deal.

— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) February 28, 2026

To match salary to dump Hardy's 3y ending contract. Orlando salary dumped Tyus on Charlotte and gave them two seconds to take him. Tyus's ending salary was able to offset sending the DLo, Hardy, Exum salaries out. Charlotte got a trade exception and a smaller salary to pay in Branham.

So Charlotte got to eat Branham's smaller salary instead of Tyus' and got two seconds and a trade exception to do it. Dallas gets to cut the bad contracts in DLo and Hardy, plus don't have to eat Exum's contract. Washington had the money to take on the extra salary and stayed below the luxury tax even with the negative contracts.

Good news because there was reporting at the time that the Mavs really wanted him. I was semi-worried they'd give him an above-league-minimum contract to keep beyond this season.

Only 3.5 games from pushing the Pelicans to 7th after that clutch loss to Memphis.

Pelicans have won 3 straight and have Utah, Clippers, Lakers, and Kings as their next 4.

The Dallas Mavericks are signing two-way guard Ryan Nembhard to a new two-year contract, Todd Ramasar and Jaafar Choufani of Life Sports Agency tell ESPN. Nembhard brought a spark on his two-way deal, averaging 9.9 points, 6.1 assists and 44.4% 3-point shooting in 17 starts. pic.twitter.com/GFPhSy8rkb

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 28, 2026

Between this and the Q deal with the Pacers, is it common to shed people at season end to make room for good two-way guys now?

500,000ags said:

---

Between this and the Q deal with the Pacers, is it common to shed people at season end to make room for good two-way guys now?

---

When you are tanking? Yes. Or when your two-way guys have outplayed salary guys such as Dominic Barlow in Philly and you want them to be long-term members of the team, but you can get them to sign a really cheap multi-year deal now rather than hit FA market.

500,000ags said:

---

Between this and the Q deal with the Pacers, is it common to shed people at season end to make room for good two-way guys now?

---

There are just so many good players now and finding diamonds in the rough is a lot more common.

In this instance, Ryan Nembhard and Tyus Jones are basically the same player, but one is younger and cheaper with unknown potential.

I like Swain for the Mavs late in the first round, but he has all time bad body language lol.

Mavs now have the 2nd hardest remaining SOS.

Memphis is 7th and NO is 13th.

Vessel said:

---

Mavs now have the 2nd hardest remaining SOS.

Memphis is 7th and NO is 13th.

---

Bulls are +4 wins ahead. The Mavs play head-to-head with Chicago on the last game of the season. That game shouldn't matter hopefully.

Grizzlies are +2 wins ahead. Mavs play @Memphis on 3/12 will be critical. Going to be an absolutely disgusting display of basketball. Will be exciting to follow. I'm starting to come around on tanking, why does the NBA want to get rid of this level of meta-drama and gamesmanship?

Pelicans are -2 wins behind. Mavs play them on 3/16 will also be critical. They have been playing well but Zion just tweaked his ankle. He is supposedly OK though. At the rate they have been winning, I could see them getting 8-12 more wins. They've got 5 against other tankers alone. Assuming they beat the Mavs and the other 4 tanking teams, they should be able to pass the Mavs.

If the Mavs can go 5 - 17 or worse (better?) then they should safely be passed by New Orleans and should safely stay ahead of Chicago. That means either the 6 or 7 seed, which may come down to that 3/16 game.

Decent night of results for us last night, outside of NO losing. Memphis and Chicago both won.

Agree with your point that the remaining games against Memphis and NO are probably the most important remaining games this year, and an outside chance that the final games against Memphis against Chicago is meaningful.

It's interesting that Middleton is still on the team. Thought for sure he'd be bought out to make room for Cisse. Maybe B Will is a waive candidate if they want to see more of Cisse.

But all the reporting makes it seem like Middleton did not want to be bought out. Maybe if he's willing to be one of the veteran leaders on this team next year and be the 7th or 8th guy making $10 million or less. Mavs could do a lot worse.

I guess that's the unintended consequence of trading for a guy who's already won a title: "Hey man, are you sure you don't want us to waive you so you can go sign with a contender and make a deep playoff run?"

"Nah, I'm good. I'd rather stay here, put up some good numbers so I can earn more money this summer, and miss the playoffs so I can have a nice long offseason to rest."

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7043867/2026/03/02/nba-mock-draft-players-dybantsa-peterson-boozer/

7. Dallas Mavericks

Darius Acuff Jr. | 6-2 guard | 19 years old | Arkansas

I don't know if any player has quieted more worries over the last month with his outstanding play than Acuff. He continues to silence questions by dominating. The freshman guard is averaging 22 points and 6.2 assists while shooting an absurd 49.1 percent from the field, 42.9 percent from 3 and 79.3 percent from the line. He's the most polished floor general in college basketball. He plays off two feet and moves well without the ball to set up his on-ball moves. His passes are always crisp and on-target, even if his vision and his highlight-reel passes are a bit less polished than some others in the class. His decision-making is superb, and he rarely turns the ball over, posting a 3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.

The only two quibbles that scouts still bring up are whether he can consistently get paint touches against NBA athleticism and length and whether he can guard anyone consistently. In terms of the former, he's done just about everything in his power to make me a believer that he can separate, thanks to the threat of his shot and elite pace. But the latter is something I'm definitely concerned about. Even though Acuff is stocky and strong, he's the worst defender of the players slated to go in the top 10 by a wide margin. He struggles to get through screens and shows a lack of engagement too regularly off the ball. Still, the offensive skill package is so good that it's hard to see how he doesn't at least turn into a starting-caliber point guard with All-Star upside.

I understand why Boozer isn't going to be the number 1 pick, but all he does is get stuff done. And he has no red flags. I think people have overlooked him and considered him a distant 3rd just because he's perceived as consistent/reliable, though not special.

What he's doing is extremely special. He's having a better season than Zion and AD had.

Analytically, you can't even compare Peterson and AJ to Boozer. It isn't even close.

Dudes an absolute stud. Don't care that he can't jump through the gym or isn't 7 ft tall. He's one of the best, most impactful college basketball players I've ever seen. His advanced metrics are ridiculous. He will quite literally fit in on any team.

If Peterson were completely healthy and looked like he did in HS I understand why you take him No.1. His gifts offensively are generational. But Boozer is second imo in terms of what he can do on that side of the floor. It's unbelievably special. You can run an entire offense through him from day 1.

Yeah I hope Boozer tears through the tournament with 28/10/5 shooting 60/40/80 (basically his season averages) and teams finally go "alright he's the best player."

I know it's weird to phrase it this way, but he just deserves to be number 1. It really seems like whichever team drafts him will sleep a lot better than the teams that end up with the other 2.

Might've been the worst game of the season.

The objective was to make sure Kon didn't go off and we got that done lol.

Absolutely love that hahahah

Even if the Mavs end up with a top four pick in this draft, they have so much roster re-tooling they need to do. Idk if they are statistically the worst, but on any given night the Mavs are hands down the worst 3-point shooting team in the league. It's disgusting. They MUST go out this offseason and sign/trade for a minimum of two more shooters.

Outside of Klay and Christie they have absolutely no one who can consistently knock down threes, and even those guys have struggled massively at times this year because of the guys around them. Get rid of PJ, Gafford, Williams (FA anyways) and I hate to say it Naji and bring in some dudes to make shots from around the arc.

On top of that, they also really really need another legit ball-handler/playmaker. I know they will get Kyrie back, and even though he'll be 34 and won't have played in 18 months, he'll be a massive upgrade. But they need another guy to create open shots for others when Kyrie is off the floor. They are a one trick pony of dribble drive basketball with no shooting right now and it has led to one of the more offenses in basketball.

They also gotta find a way to continue to get younger and more athletic.

Yeah, I don't think there is massive retooling needed.

Draft a guard that can shoot with the lottery pick. That's probably Darius Acuff, Kingston Flemmings, Mikal Brown or Keaton Wagler.

Then another shooter with the second pick - Maybe Isaiah Evans.

If you can trade PJ or Naji for a more pure shooter, there might be a deal that makes sense. But I don't think it has to be done.

Gafford/Lively/Cisse
PJ/Naji/Bagley
Flagg/Klay/ Martin
Max/Isaiah Evans
Kyrie/ Acuff or Flemmings or Brown or Wagler

That's a solid team on both ends of the court.

Guitarsoup said:

---

Yeah, I don't think there is massive retooling needed.

Draft a guard that can shoot with the lottery pick. That's probably Darius Acuff, Kingston Flemmings, Mikal Brown or Keaton Wagler.

Then another shooter with the second pick - Maybe Isaiah Evans.

If you can trade PJ or Naji for a more pure shooter, there might be a deal that makes sense. But I don't think it has to be done.

Gafford/Lively/Cisse
PJ/Naji/Bagley
Flagg/Klay/ Martin
Max/Isaiah Evans
Kyrie/ Acuff or Flemmings or Brown or Wagler

That's a solid team on both ends of the court.

---

Ya plus the Mavs have the full MLE. Guys like Norm Powell, Luke Kennard, Quentin Grimes, or hell even THJ are going to be free agents and likely gettable for that price. They also have a very large TPE north of $20m if they really want to go out and buy a shooter for someone looking to offload their books. The Mavs have enough draft capital and cash to adequately address shooting in the offseason.

I think I saw recently that they are 3rd worst in the league in percentage while shooting the fewest 3s per game.

Replacing B Will's 2 3PA/G on 20ish% with Kyrie's 7 3PA/G on 40% will be a large step in the right direction.

If the Mavs end up with AJ, Boozer, or Caleb, then you can trade PJ for more guard shooting. I'd want to keep PJ if we have to take any of the true guards.

Trading Gafford is extremely risky given the health record of Lively. It stinks, but we probably have to hold on to a guy like that since Lively's availability is completely unreliable.

Naji's 3PT shooting is rough, but I think he's such a good glue guy that can do so much, including being your 3rd or 4th ballhandler. He was at his best in NO when he was getting 20 minutes per game. It's no surprise that his efficiency has gone down as he's had to play a bigger role over the last 2 years, including a ton of lead guard stuff. He's a great 6th or 7th guy to have who is so versatile.

I think the Mavs front office will be energized by the first round pick this year, assuming it is one of the top 8 picks. I'd bet they make the necessary moves to make a more balanced team once they have the requisite information.

I wouldn't take much away from this season. AD never fit on this roster and Kyrie's shot creation and playmaking will address a lot of concerns for this team. As long as he's healthy, the Mavs should have a pretty balanced roster. Still obviously need PG depth behind Kyrie but I'm cautiously optimistic about what this team can be healthy + top 8 pick + yr 2 Flagg + Full MLE acquisition.

I agree, I'm not making any sweeping conclusions based on this season. For example, Christie is a guy who I'm not worried about when he is sharing the floor with better players.

A lot depends on Lively. At this point, he should have been competing for All-NBA at the center spot. A lot changes about our defense and rebounding just from having his presence.

If you were to tell me now that we draft in the top 7 and Lively plays 65 games next year, I'd guarantee the team was competing to be in the top 6 of the West.