Category: Dallas Mavericks Blog

Mavericks blog – Dallas Mavericks blog. A great Mavs news blog

Mavs guard Dante Exum out with season-ending injury

Per the Dallas Morning News:

The 2025-26 season came to a premature end for Dallas Mavericks guard Dante Exum on Thursday, the team announced.

Exum has continued to deal with complications from a right knee procedure he underwent in the offseason, the team said, and it has been determined that a follow-up surgery will be necessary.

A further recovery timeline for Exum will be provided at a later date, but the guard will not be returning to action this season.

Exum, who had yet to appear in a game this season, also missed most of the 2024-25 season with a right wrist injury and a left hand fracture.

Mavericks waive Dalano Banton, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Dennis Smith Jr.

The Dallas Mavericks have waived guard/forward Dalano Banton, forward Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and guard Dennis Smith Jr.

Banton played in one preseason game against the L.A. Lakers on Oct. 15, 2025, and recorded three points, two rebounds, one assist and one steal in six minutes.

Robinson-Earl saw action in all four of Dallas’ preseason games and averaged 7.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 12.2 minutes per game. He scored nine points in eight minutes (4-5 FG, 1-2 3FG) to go along with three assists vs. the Charlotte Hornets on Oct. 11, 2025.

Smith appeared in two preseason games and averaged 1.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 7.4 minutes per game.

Dallas Mavericks select Cooper Flagg with first pick in 2025 NBA Draft

The Dallas Mavericks have selected forward Cooper Flagg from Duke University with the first overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.

In one season at Duke, Flagg (6-9, 225) averaged 19.2 points (.481 FG, .385 3FG), 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.4 blocks in 37 appearances (all starts) while leading the team to their second NCAA Tournament Final Four appearance in the last 10 years. Earlier this year, the 18-year-old was named National College Player of the Year (USBWA, NABC, AP, Wooden, Naismith, CollegeInsider.com), becoming the 11th player from Duke to be awarded the honor and the second freshman from Duke to do so (Zion Williamson). Additionally, he was voted consensus First-Team All-American and National Freshman of the Year. In the Atlantic Coast Conference, Flagg was also selected as the AAC Player of the Year and ACC Rookie of the Year and named to All-ACC First Team, ACC All-Defensive Team and ACC All-Rookie Team.

The Maine native set the ACC freshman single-game scoring record after recording 42 points against Notre Dame on Jan. 11. He led Duke in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks per game, becoming the second freshman in the last 25 years to lead his respective team in all five categories (Ben Simmons).

Flagg represented Team USA at the 2022 FIBA Under-17 Basketball World Cup, where he was named All-Tournament Team after averaging 9.3 points, 10.0 rebounds, 2.9 blocks and 2.4 steals en route to a gold medal campaign for his country and was chosen for the USA Select Team ahead of the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Flagg will wear No. 32 for the Mavericks.

Mavericks and Pistons to play NBA Mexico City Game 2025 in November

The NBA Mexico City Game 2025 will feature the Dallas Mavericks and the Detroit Pistons playing a regular-season game at the Arena CDMX in Mexico City on Saturday, November 1.

The matchup will mark the league’s 34th game in Mexico since 1992 – more than any country outside of the U.S. and Canada – and coincide with traditional “Día de Muertos” (Day of the Dead) celebrations locally for the second consecutive year. The “Dia de Muertos” theme will be showcased through a variety of in-arena activations during the game, including a specially themed basketball court and several fan engagement initiatives.

The Mavericks, who will be playing their eighth game in Mexico, currently feature 10-time NBA All-Star Anthony Davis, nine-time All-Star Kyrie Irving and four-time NBA champion Klay Thompson and hold the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.

The Pistons, who will be making their third appearance in Mexico, completed one of the largest year-over-year turnarounds in NBA history last season and made the NBA Playoffs for the first time since 2016. They are led by 2025 NBA All-Star and All-NBA Third Team member Cade Cunningham and a young core of standouts that include Jalen Duren, Jaden Ivey, Ausar Thompson and Isaiah Stewart.

Mavericks win 2025 NBA Draft Lottery

The Dallas Mavericks beat overwhelming odds and moved up to the first overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft after the results of the NBA Draft Lottery. This is the first time in franchise history Dallas has moved up when in lottery position.

Dallas entered the night in the 11th slot, and the Mavericks had a 1.80% chance of landing the No. 1 pick in the 2025 Draft, as well as an 8.50% chance at moving into one of the top four positions. This marks the second time that Dallas has held the first-overall selection, the first being in the second-ever draft in Mavericks franchise history in 1981 when the team selected Mark Aguirre out of DePaul.

NBA Draft 2025 will take place June 25-26 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. Coverage on both nights will begin at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN platforms.

Mavericks sign Kai Jones, waive Kylor Kelley

The Dallas Mavericks have signed center Kai Jones to a Two-Way contract.

In a related move, the Mavericks have requested waivers on Two-Way center Kylor Kelley.

Jones (6-11, 221) appeared in 95 career games with the Charlotte Hornets and Los Angeles Clippers, averaging 2.5 points (.600 FG%) and 1.9 rebounds in 8.6 minutes per game.

The 24-year-old, waived on March 1, joins the Mavericks after appearing in 28 games for the Clippers in 2024-25, averaging 2.2 points (.722 FG%, .750 FT%) and 1.6 rebounds in 7.4 minutes.

Originally selected by New York with the 19th overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, before having his draft rights traded to Charlotte, the Nassau, Bahamas native spent his first two seasons with the Hornets playing alongside Mavericks forward P.J. Washington Jr. from 2021-22 to 2022-23.

Previously, the 6-11 center spent two seasons at the University of Texas, where he was named the Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year and All-Big 12 honorable mention in 2021.

Jones will wear No. 23 for the Mavericks.

Kelley (7-0, 230) signed a Two-Way deal with the Mavericks on Jan. 26 and made his NBA debut the next night against Washington. He appeared in eight games with Dallas, making one start, while averaging 3.0 points and 2.6 rebounds in 8.4 minutes.

Injury updates on Anthony Davis and two other Mavericks players

The Dallas Mavericks yesterday (Thursday) issued the following injury updates:

Mavericks forward/center Anthony Davis, who suffered a left adductor strain on Feb. 8 against Houston and missed the team’s final three games before the All-Star break, is making good progress. Davis will be re-evaluated in two weeks.

Mavericks forward P.J. Washington Jr., who suffered a right ankle sprain on Feb. 8 against Houston and missed the team’s final three games leading up to the All-Star break, returned to practice this afternoon. His return to game action will be based on his continued progress, as such he will be listed as questionable for Friday’s game against New Orleans.

Mavericks center Dwight Powell, who suffered a right hip strain against Oklahoma City on Jan. 17, participated in non-contact activities during practice today and a controlled contact session after. He will be listed as doubtful for Friday’s game against New Orleans.

Mavericks sign center Moses Brown to 10-day contract

The Dallas Mavericks have signed center Moses Brown to a 10-day contract.

Brown (7-2, 258) holds career averages of 5.1 points (.566 FG%), 4.8 rebounds and 11.6 minutes per game in 159 games, including 44 starts, with the Portland Trail Blazers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Dallas Mavericks, Cleveland Cavaliers, L.A. Clippers, Brooklyn Nets and Indiana Pacers.

The 25-year-old has spent the 2024-25 season split between the G League’s Westchester Knicks and Indiana Pacers. In 17 regular-season games, all starts, for Westchester this year, Brown averaged 15.6 points (.581 FG%), a league-high 15.2 rebounds, 0.9 blocks and 30.5 minutes en route to being selected to the G League Next Up Game. He was also named the NBA G League Player of the Month for games played in January after averaging 16.7 points and 16.4 rebounds during the month.

Brown signed with Indiana on Nov. 20 and saw action in nine games for the Pacers, averaging 3.2 points (.650 FG%) and 1.4 rebounds in 5.1 minutes, before being waived by the Pacers on Dec. 9 and re-joining Westchester.

The sixth-year center returns for his second stint with Dallas after appearing in 26 games, including one start, for the Mavericks in 2021-22. He was acquired by the Mavericks from the Boston Celtics in exchange for guard Josh Richardson on July 31, 2021. He averaged 3.1 points and 2.3 rebounds in those 26 contests.

After going undrafted in 2019, Brown signed a Two-Way contract with Portland on Oct. 17, 2019. He appeared in nine games for the Trail Blazers as a rookie in 2019-20 while also seeing action in 30 games for the Mavericks’ G League affiliate, the Texas Legends, that year. The following season, Brown garnered 2020-21 All-NBA G League First Team and NBA G League All-Defensive Team honors for the Oklahoma City Blue.

A native of New York City, Brown played one collegiate season at UCLA and earned Pac-12 All-Freshman Team honors for the Bruins in 2018-19.

Brown will wear No. 9 for the Mavericks, the same number he wore in his previous stint with the franchise.