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The Dallas Mavericks will have their season on the line on Wednesday night when the team opens its NBA play-in slate on the road against the Sacramento Kings. The Mavericks are looking at an uphill climb as the team is one loss away from concluding its 2024-25 campaign.
Dallas will have to defeat the Kings and the loser of Golden State/Memphis to earn the honor of facing the league-leading Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round. To say what everyone knows out loud, it's not looking like the Mavericks will make another run to the NBA Finals.
In less than one year, general manager Nico Harrison and team governor Patrick Dumont have dismantled a franchise that was a legitimate championship contender. What was once a decade-long window under Luka Doncic has been reduced to a thin margin following Kyrie Irving's ACL tear and Anthony Davis's injury woes.
Since trading Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, the Mavericks have gone 13-21, with 13 of those defeats coming by double digits. Frankly, Dallas hasn't been very competitive with injuries piling up across the roster.
Dumont appears to have a different stance on the Mavericks' performance. In a recent statement to WFAA, a provided response went into detail about the ownership group's focus, noting that head coach Jason Kidd and his staff have gotten the put "in a position most through would be unachievable a few short months ago."
"Patrick and his family love being stewards of the Mavericks and have deeply enjoyed their ownership experience over the last year and a half," a spokesperson's response to WFAA said. "They want what all Mavs want – a team that plays hard together and wins games. So, with that said, the focus should be on the remaining games the team has and its push to the playoffs. Coach Kidd and the staff have done a tremendous job putting the team in a position most thought would be unachievable a few short months ago."
Well, there's definitely one thing right about that statement. Dallas certainly has done the unachievable by dealing away its brightest star for a package of pennies. It wasn't that long ago when Mikal Bridges commanded five first-round picks and Kevin Durant netted four in their respective trades.
The Mavericks received a solid veteran in Anthony Davis but the aging big man has dealt with a variety of injuries that are occurring more frequently as of late. Max Christie is solid and under contract for multiple seasons.
The main failure is landing just one first-round pick that won't be useful until 2029 for a roster that is already well over the cap and in need of cost effective contracts.
The immediate aftermath of the Doncic trade hasn't been inspiring and the future doesn't necessarily look bright either. Calls for Harrison and Dumont's heads only continue to grow louder.
More must-reads:
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Desperate Warriors need these two players to debut soon
The Golden State Warriors are 10-10, just lost Steph Curry and desperately need veteran reinforcements. Two in particular can't come soon enough. Curry injured his quad muscle Wednesday night in a loss to the Houston Rockets. He's been the Warriors leading scorer this season (27.9 PPG), and the team is 9-7 when he plays and 1-3 without him. That's why the team could really use offseason signings De'Anthony Melton and Seth Curry to join the team. De'Anthony Melton returned to the court for a scrimmage De'Anthony Melton signed with the Warriors for the second straight summer after his 2024-25 season was derailed by a torn ACL. Melton is still less than a year past his surgery, which happened Dec. 4, 2024, and will be re-evaluated next week. However, he was healthy enough to scrimmage at the Chase Center with the G League Santa Cruz Warriors Wednesday. Melton joined Jonathan Kuminga, also making his way back from a knee injury, in a full-court, five-on-five practice. That's a good sign Melton could be ready to return to a team that's struggled to stop opposing guards. The most recent one to torment them was Houston's Reed Sheppard, who scored a career-high 31 points Wednesday as Moses Moody, Will Richard and Brandin Podziemski all failed to contain him. After the game, Jimmy Butler complained that the Warriors "let anybody do whatever they want" on offense. Even if he's playing limited minutes in his comeback, Melton should help provide defense for a Warriors team that's simply blowing assignments. Podziemski in particular has a tendency to over-help and end up guarding no one. Melton can also help provide three-point shooting for a team highly dependent on Steph Curry on the perimeter. Seth Curry's return is a matter of money While the health of Melton's knee will determine when he comes back, it's money and cap concerns that are holding out Curry's brother, Seth. The Warriors agreed with Seth before the season, then released him as planned before the season, because they couldn't afford his full minimum salary after being hard-capped at the first luxury-tax apron. But they've been able to sign the younger Curry since mid-November. They're waiting in order to have more flexibility for later moves, like a trade involving the unhappy Kuminga, while Seth, a 43.3 percent career three-point shooter, cools his heels. It has to be tempting to add Seth with Buddy Hield shooting 31 percent from deep this season while providing very little defense. And like Melton, it's tempting simply to have a veteran who knows where to be on the floor. They'll likely wait, especially with Kuminga nearing his return and Melton possibly right behind. But sitting at 10-10, the Warriors don't have a lot of time to waste hoping their current roster turns things around.
After missing out on Lane Kiffin, Florida has new top target in coaching search
The Florida Gators won't be hiring Lane Kiffin as their next head coach, but there's a new top candidate in Gainesville. According to ESPN's Pete Thamel, Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall is now the leading candidate for the head coaching position. Sumrall has also reportedly withdrawn his name from consideration for the HC role at Auburn, leaving his options open between remaining at Tulane and moving to Florida. The Gators stand at 3-8 before Saturday's rivalry game against Florida State and have fired former head coach Billy Napier after a 3-4 start to his fourth season in the Swamp. Thamel reported on Friday that Florida had stopped considering Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin as a candidate, amid Kiffin's upcoming decision to either stay at Ole Miss or accept the head coaching job at LSU. Why Florida would be interested in Jon Sumrall According to Thamel, Sumrall is expected to decide by Sunday whether he will stay in New Orleans or move southeast to Gainesville. Sumrall, 43, is in his second year at Tulane, having taken over after Willie Fritz was named head coach at the University of Houston. Sumrall maintained the momentum of Tulane's football program established by Fritz, leading the Green Wave to the American Athletic Conference championship game a year ago. This season, No. 24 Tulane is 9-2 heading into Saturday's regular season finale against Charlotte. A win on Saturday night would secure a home game for the Green Wave in the AAC championship against North Texas. If Sumrall and Tulane win the AAC title, a College Football Playoff spot could be possible. With Sumrall's impressive record as a head coach — 41-11 between his tenures at Troy and Tulane — it's easy to see why the powers that be in Gainesville have identified him as the top target in Florida's coaching search now that Kiffin is out of the running.
Jerry Jones claims Jets turned down absurd trade offer involving Micah Parsons, Quinnen Williams
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones recently revealed that he offered Micah Parsons plus a first-round pick to the New York Jets in exchange for Quinnen Williams during training camp. Jerry Jones says Jets turned out incredible trade offer for Quinnen Williams “I wanted a one and Parsons for Williams,” Jones said on 103.5 The Fan. That seems like an absurd offer, but Jones left little up to interpretation. “A one and Parsons for Williams,” he repeated. Later, he added that the deal did not go through because the Jets “did not have the cap room to pay [Parsons].” Jones also said something similar to WFAA’s Ed Werder: “We tried at training camp with the Jets to basically make an exchange that was ready to go, heads up, with Quinnen and Micah and a one, and we didn’t get it done.” Parsons, of course, was instead sent to the Packers for defensive tackle Kenny Clark and two first-round picks. The Cowboys later acquired Williams before the trade deadline for a package including a 2027 first-rounder, a 2026 second-rounder and defensive tackle Mazi Smith. Jones has slowly revealed more and more information about the Parsons trade since it was completed. During a September radio appearances on ESPN New York, Jones said that called the Jets regarding Williams when he was shopping Parsons before the season. The Jets were not interested, he claimed, because they “didn’t have the resources to entertain [the] conversation,” similar to his pronouncement on 103.5. If true, Jets made a big mistake If Jones’ latest revelation is true, that means two things. First, he was willing to sacrifice a massive amount of value to move Parsons and acquire Williams. Second, the Jets made a huge mistake in not accepting the deal. Although Williams is an excellent defensive tackle, Parsons is undoubtedly a better and more valuable player, even at a higher price point. This year, Williams has 2.5 sacks and 10 tackles for loss this season; per Pro Football Focus, he ranks fifth among interior defenders with 40 pressures but 38th with a 12.1% pass-rush win rate. Parsons, meanwhile, has 12.5 sacks and 12 tackles for loss, plus 67 pressures and a 24.3% pass-rush win rate, both top-three marks among NFL edge-rushers. In his career, he has averaged 0.89 sacks and one tackle for loss per game; Williams’ per-game numbers are 0.41 sacks and 0.60 tackles for loss. Those numbers may not tell the complete story of either player, but it seems like the Jets should have taken Jones’ offer. Sure, they would have had to pony up for Parsons’ mega-extension, but they were already prepared to move on from Williams. Adding an extra first-round pick on top would also give the Jets an opportunity to add another starter — if not a star — on a rookie contract. That would help to offset the financial cost of acquiring Parsons. How realistic is Jerry Jones' claim? But Jones’ words should also be taken with a grain of salt. He has spent a lot of time trying to retroactively justify trading away Parsons, especially after using some of the resulting draft capital to acquire Williams. Claiming that the Jets were not interested in Parsons and a first-rounder for Williams serves to downplay the former’s value and boost the latter’s. The idea that the Jets could not afford to pay Parsons does not hold water, either. After his extension, the All-Pro edge-rusher’s cap hit in 2025 is just $9.97M. New York certainly could have designed a similar contract structure and absorbed Perhaps the Jets didn't want to commit so much money to Parsons as they were clearly contemplating a rebuild. Parsons would still be a cornerstone for that effort, but he may not have wanted to weather any losing seasons in the hopes of a future turnaround. But again, adding another first-round pick would have accelerated that process, and a core of Parsons, cornerback Sauce Gardner and wide receiver Garrett Wilson seems like a solid foundation for the Jets to build from. That is an expensive trio, but having elite players at three of the sport’s most important positions is a good problem to have. Instead, the Jets declined the Cowboys’ initial offer for Williams before moving him and Gardner at the deadline as part of what appears to be a full-on franchise reset.
Eagles' grip on NFC East suddenly in danger of slipping away amid spiral, Cowboys' resurgence
Life comes at you fast in the NFL, and the Philadelphia Eagles are finding that out right now. Now they are in a position where what looked to be a runaway lead in the NFC East is rapidly shrinking, and it could be in danger of completely slipping away after an ugly 24-15 loss to the Chicago Bears on Friday. Especially after the Dallas Cowboys won again on Thursday, continuing to narrow the gap in the division. Could the Eagles actually lose the division? The odds are still in the Eagles' favor, but given the way both teams are playing right now, nothing should be considered a given. Dallas has rapidly become one of the hottest teams in the NFL with three consecutive wins, and boasts one of the league's best offenses. The Cowboys' much-maligned defense has also been given a massive boost thanks to the trade-deadline addition of defensive lineman Quinnen Williams from the New York Jets. Dallas really started to get some belief for itself when it rallied to beat the Eagles in a massive NFC East game a week ago. It continued on Thanksgiving with another big win over the Kansas City Chiefs. With Philadelphia's loss on Friday, the gap in the division is now down to just a game-and-a-half with five weeks to go in the season. Hardly insurmountable. Are the Eagles still in the driver's seat? Sure. Would they trade positions with the Cowboys right now? No way. But that doesn't mean anybody in Philadelphia has to be feeling good about any of this given the way the Eagles are playing. Especially when it comes to the team's offense. The Eagles offense has been a struggle for much of the season, and it is getting progressively worse with each game. The passing game has been non-existent. They entered play on Friday with the 23rd-ranked passing offense in the league, and it looked worse than that against the Bears. Quarterback Jalen Hurts has struggled with consistency, the team's best wide receiver — A.J. Brown — seems perpetually miserable with his role and usage, and the play-calling has become shockingly conservative and bland. The running game that carried the Eagles to the Super Bowl a year ago has struggled to build any sort of a rhythm, and Saquon Barkley has been a shell of what he was last season. Even worse, they have almost completely eliminated any designed runs for Hurts, something that was a major X-factor for the offense in recent years. If all of that is not concerning enough, a new issue emerged on Friday — the defense that has helped keep the Eagles afloat this season and lift up the inconsistent offense was completely dominated by the Bears' running game. They were pushed around, bullied and could not get off the field on important third downs. It just looks like a team that has no confidence and nothing going for it. Conversely, the Cowboys all of a sudden look like a team that can do nothing wrong and they are suddenly breathing right down the Eagles' necks. Philadelphia still has games against the Los Angeles Chargers, Las Vegas Raiders, Buffalo Bills and Washington Commanders (twice) remaining. The Cowboys still have the Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, Chargers, Commanders and New York Giants. The schedules are pretty similar. But the division might not come down to the opponents. It might come down to what the Eagles and Cowboys can do on their own. The Cowboys should be very confident right now, and the Eagles should not be.
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