Now seems like a good time to play AJ Johnson, but what do I know.

Suuuuurreee seems like it hahahah. Throw just a little more scouse twang in it and maybe.

Let's get coop out of this game please.

For the love of Pete, why is the franchise in the game in a 30 point blowout when we are trying to lose games…

Tksymm7 said:

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The spurs are so sloppy with the basketball. If they want to compete with OKC, Denver and Minny they're going to have to be a lot better there.

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If they attack the rim like they are tonight, no one can beat them. Spurs are 6th in the NBA in turnovers. They have some sloppy ones just because most of the roster is college-aged, but overall they take care of the ball really well.

Agreed. Since the four minute mark of the 2nd Q they've cut to the basket and limited the passing, and they've been a freight train. To beat them you're going to have to have guards that are dawgs defensively.

Teams that give us the most problems have a really strong, physical guy at PF/C that can bully Harrison Barnes or Wemby. Knicks did it with Mitchell Robinson and KAT. Minnesota did it with Julius Randle and Naz Reid. Utah even did it with Nurkic.

Shockingly, Spurs are 11-3 in the regular season against the top 8 teams in the NBA.

Other than that, the biggest thing the Spurs need to address is shooting ability/consistency.

My team to watch that could do it all is Minnesota. I think they have ways they can beat anyone.

Same. But I think they will end up at 4/5 seed and face OKC in round two. I think Minn would beat the Spurs, but they don't have the rim pressure to beat OKC. Ant can't do everything.

Absolutely shameless from Utah tonight. They had the game in the bag and finished with no Nurkic, JJJ, or Marrkanen. Scored 0 points in the final minute while Orlando scored 6 points from the FT line to win by 3.

LOL

The GOAT!

D’Angelo Russell is not going to report to the Wizards until leadership assesses “what’s best for him and us in our future,” GM Will Dawkins announced.

Russell was a part of the Anthony Davis trade from Dallas.

(via @henryjbr_sports) pic.twitter.com/Yngx3tjETv

— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) February 8, 2026

Tank commander seems like an ideal role for DLo

Looking at on/off stuff for the Mavs, the Mavs have a +0.5 net rating in all non-garbage non-PJ minutes (also +1.9 with neither PJ or AD on the court, which I thought was interesting). For every other player, the Mavs have a negative net rating when that player isn't on the court. That makes sense, because the Mavs are a bad team. It shows just how bad a season PJ is having this year. Worst player on the team type of season.

I really have no idea what to do going forward here. I could be convinced that he's been ineffective because of numerous injuries as well as personal stuff. His role has also been uncertain given that AD was almost exclusively playing the 4 to start the year then almost exclusively playing the 5 a few weeks in. I could also be convinced that Flagg needs to be the primary 4, which relegates PJ to the bench.

PJ is going to be making too much money to be this bad, or to have a diminished role as a backup.

One of the bigger non-injury-related unknowns on the team going forward.

Washington's skillset really needs an elite distributor of the basketball to be maximized. His offensive game is too limited to be an important aspect of your team if he isn't getting a lot of open corner pocket threes and lob dunks, and while he is a good defender he doesn't have the strength to do what a Dallas team without AD or Lively needs him to do on that end.

For those reasons, maybe you wait on him and see if it can work with him, Coop, and Lively as your 3-5. If the Mavs are able to draft one of the elite PGs, it could elevate PJ again. If the Mavs end up with Caleb Wilson, then PJ is redundant and expensive. Maybe just having Kyrie back helps him, even though Kyrie isn't a true distributor.

It also seems like the league is in somewhat of a course-correction from the small-ball era. Teams are going with more size as these taller wing players have gotten more skilled. So maybe the best situation for the Mavs next year has Coop and PJ sharing the floor with a center.

PJ is actually a decent above the break 3 point shooter for his career. He was 38% last year but he's at 28% this year, just above the break. Maybe the shot just comes back as the Mavs go back to playing normal basketball with typical NBA spacing and not having a 19-year old 6'9" rookie running point.

500,000ags said:

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Oh, what I wish for Luka to go public that he'd resign with the Mavs if Dumont is gone.

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We may get our wish:

EDIT: Removed the tweet since Guitarsoup posted it directly above me

Chris Chris?

Utah beats Miami despite not playing their best players down the stretch again.

The fact that this news broke makes me wonder if Cuban buying back in is farther along than we realize. I'm guessing if gambling fails in Texas again, then Dumont has to wonder what is really in it for him. Show up at your own stadium just to get booed? Doesn't sound fun. Maybe selling it back to Cuban for a profit would a way out and just move on.

There is serious smoke and rumors around the idea that because getting a Casino type of venue in the DFW area isn't going to happen, coupled with the fact that the NBA is legitimately pushing to expand to Seattle and Vegas, that there really is no need or interest for the Miriam Adelson and Co. family to own the Mavs anyone. They could just buy into the league in Vegas and tie the team to whatever casino or gambling they wanted to and it might be cheaper overall.

Now, it's already being shot down that the Adelson family doesn't want to sell, which could be true, but we'll see what happens.

I think you might be right. Seeing a lot of speculation on Twitter around the timing of this announcement not being a coincidence; it's leaking right around the same time rumors are flying that Seattle and Vegas are going to be announced as expansion cities. I know the Adelsons have divested from Las Vegas, but if their dream is to build a destination gambling resort/basketball facility, Dallas is no longer their best bet (pun intended).

I assume the list of potential groups to own a team in Las Vegas will be a mile long, but maybe Cuban's investors can overpay for the Mavs so the Adelsons can turn around and overpay for the rights for the Vegas franchise.

Then Dumont can hire Nico to run the expansion draft and Luka will be free to return to the Mavs. Just exactly like we drew it up 12 months ago.

EDIT: Two days in a row I'm late to post the same info as someone else. Serves me right for trying to focus on work instead of TexAgs.

The gambling/casino aspect of this is just not happening in Texas, and I think that is a huge factor for the Adelson's.

I would assume that there could be some loose gentlemen's agreements in place that if the Adelson's decided to sell the Mavs, that their bids, so long as competitive, would be considered over others for an expansion team.

I'm skeptical just because it would require very rich people on both sides to admit very recent massive mistakes.

Vessel said:

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I'm skeptical just because it would require very rich people on both sides to admit very recent massive mistakes.

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True but at the end of the day, this is all about $$$. And without line of sight to a stadium and casino complex, divesting is the logical move

Nepo babies gonna nepo baby.

No inside info but I think the NBA knows what a disaster this has been in a major market. Dallas has always been right in second tier of NBA franchises. I could see a deal where Silver brokers a deal where Dumont gets the Vegas team in exchange for selling back to Cuban.

Dan Patrick is steadfastly opposed to legalization of gambling in Texas. He's up for re-election this year. If re-elected (leading in polls) his term wouldn't end until Jan 2031. Mavs' lease at the AAC ends after the 2030-31 season. They will need to begin construction on their new facility probably by year end 2027/very early 2028 to be ready for a 2031-32 season. Meaning they need to be finalizing their plans for the new facility within the next year.

If Dan Patrick gets re-elected then it becomes unlikely they can plan for a casino/arena resort complex with expectations it would be legal to gamble by the date it opens. Would expect Dumont/Adelsons to maintain a stated interest in owning the team until they fire all their bullets at improving legalized gambling probability in Texas, but after Patrick is re-elected it wouldn't surprise me to see them divest. They might just proceed with a planned location that has the ability to expand into a casino resort after legalization, but 6-7 years (at the earliest) is a long time to hold off.

Between now and 2031 the NBA is going to add a Seattle team, a Vegas team, and several European teams.

Legend said:

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No inside info but I think the NBA knows what a disaster this has been in a major market. Dallas has always been right in second tier of NBA franchises. I could see a deal where Silver brokers a deal where Dumont gets the Vegas team in exchange for selling back to Cuban.

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If ownership has been a disaster here, why would NBA then reward that ownership with a higher profile market?

If their thesis is truly gambling + NBA, go to Vegas. Whole city in the desert already built for you. Economics and opportunity; check. Reputation and Good standing, never getting that in DAL again after the trade. Go get a blank slate; check. Like most morons out of their depth though, pride is the biggest hurdle.