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Let’s be honest. The Mavericks aren’t looking to win any more games this season. With the sixth-worst record in the league, they don’t want to pass up the Grizzlies and reduce their lottery odds any more—although they did pretty well in last year’s lottery with some long odds, landing them Cooper Flagg. Speaking of the young stud, their strategy is likely to consist of feeding the ball to Cooper and try to get him to score a lot of points, like resulting in efforts like his 51 point outburst on April 3 against the Magic in a game that the Mavs lost 127-138. The injury report for the Mavs has 13 players on it, but most of the players listed are expected to play with some bumps and bruises, including Flagg, who is probable with a sprained wrist.

The Spurs list both Castle and Wembanyama as questionable, but Wemby is expected to play at least 20 minutes in order to cement his eligibility for NBA awards. Since the Mavericks aren’t playing any defense at this point in the season, he could end up playing with minimal contact, which would make Spurs fans happy. I think the plan tonight is to give the starters enough time to work on some sets, and hopefully turn the ball over to Jordan McLaughlin to drive the team home in the fourth quarter.

The is the penultimate game of the season for the Silver and Black, which is a fancy to say that it’s the next to last game. They play again on Sunday, with a matchup against the Nuggets. Depending on the outcome of other games, that game could decide whether the Nuggets are in third place in the west, and in that case, the Spurs might be motivated to play their starters to try and put the Nuggets in the opposite side of the playoff bracket from San Antonio, because a second round matchup with Los Angeles or Houston would be a lot more favorable than facing a team with a proven championship pedigree like Denver.

Just as an aside, did you think we’d be talking about second round playoff matchups when the season started? The Spurs started the season against the Mavericks, winning 125-92, and it was at that point that I started to realize that the team might be good this year, but they’ve really improved by leaps and bounds since then. That’s wild. GO SPURS GO!

Carter Bryant scores 30 with 5 blocks, 3 of them on Flagg.

San Antonio Spurs vs Dallas Mavericks
April 8, 2026 | 7:00 PM CT
Streaming: NBA League Pass
TV: KENS
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