Dallas Mavericks Predicted to Win Only 42 Games in 2025-26 NBA Season

The Dallas Mavericks are predicted to win only 42 games during the 2025-26 NBA season.

NBA writer Andy Bailey of Bleacher Report thinks the Mavericks will go 42-40 next season. Dallas’ top players are Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, Cooper Flagg, P.J. Washington, Max Christie, Daniel Gafford, D’Angelo Russell and Dereck Lively II.

Irving will miss most of next season recovering from his left ACL tear.

“Starting with incoming rookie Cooper Flagg, the No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft, there’s plenty to like about this overhauled Dallas Mavericks roster,” Bailey wrote. “Pretty much any combination of Flagg, Anthony Davis, P.J. Washington, Dereck Lively II and Daniel Gafford at spots 3 through 5 should give the Mavs an almost nightmarish defense. And if Flagg takes to the NBA as quickly as he did high-level high school basketball and the ACC, Dallas could clear that over-under by even more than this prediction.

“With Kyrie Irving out for at least the first few months of the campaign, though, offense could be awfully difficult to come by. D’Angelo Russell will help. And Flagg was a better playmaker at summer league than many expected. But the Mavs no longer have the kind of offensive engine that’s almost become a prerequisite for title contention.”

42 wins will likely put the Mavericks in the play-in tournament again since the Western Conference is very tough. Dallas was in the play-in tournament last season.

The Mavericks went only 39-43 in 2024-25. They missed the playoffs after making the NBA Finals in 2024. General manager Nico Harrison shocked the sports world by trading Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers in February.

Until Irving returns from his ACL injury, Russell will be the Mavericks’ starting point guard. He played with Davis and Christie on the Lakers.

Dallas head coach Jason Kidd is expected to start Russell, Thompson, Washington, Davis and Gafford next season.