The Dallas Mavericks closed the 2025-2026 NBA season with a 26-56 record, good for 12th place in the Western Conference. There was no PlayIn Tournament for Dallas. There was no Playoffs. The season simply ended with game 82 in the middle of April. Being tied for the seventh worst record in the league left much to be desired.
Despite a disappointing ending, the 2025-2026 season may yet come to be remembered as a positive turning point in franchise history. In this series, we’ll take a month-by-month
look at some of the comings and goings surrounding the team.
October/November Record: 6-15
The Mavericks got off to an inauspicious start, taking a 125-92 home loss at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs on opening night. Any hopes of using a season-opening five-game homestand to get off to a hot start were quickly dashed as the Mavs dropped their first two and only managed a 2-3 record in that span. A four-game losing streak immediately followed.
Cooper Flagg’s first game
Despite a season-opening drubbing, game one featured the debut of Mavs rookie and number one draft pick Cooper Flagg. Flagg’s box score won’t blow you away, as he shot only 4-for-13 and turned the ball over three times. Still, he managed a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds and showed flashes of what he would quickly develop into as the season progressed. Early in the third quarter, Flagg hit his first field goal through contact.
The Nico Harrison era comes to an end
On the off-day between losses to the Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns, then-GM Nico Harrison was relieved of his duties. The Mavericks held a 3-8 record at the time. Harrison’s seeming vendetta against Luka Doncic and obsession with Anthony Davis that resulted in a swap of the two players, ultimately proved to be a nearly unmitigated disaster. A staggering amount of backlash had Harrison on the ropes for months and the poor start to the season finally saw an end to the “Fire Nico” chants, as the fans got what they so desperately wanted. November 11, 2025 marked the end of the Harrison era in Dallas.
Dereck Lively’s seven game season
Lively played in the first three games of the season, giving the fans hope that his almost disastrous injury run of the prior season was behind him. That was not to be the case. Lively missed the next nine games, returned to play four of the following five, the last of which was his final game of the season; a win over the New Orleans Pelicans on November 21. Lively is all but officially in the danger zone of being an injury-prone big man. He sought surgery overseas to hopefully correct things once and for all.
Next time, we’ll take a look at December, one of the better months of the season for Dallas.
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