Coming out of a December that started off well but ended poorly, the Mavs were looking to build on the momentum of an ever-growing Cooper Flagg, all the while hoping Anthony Davis would finally string together a run that could help propel Dallas to a PlayIn berth or better. For the most part, Flagg was playing his more natural position and while still shaky, the team was beginning to show they were going to hang in almost any game.
January Record: 7-8 (19-30 overall)
January began with the Mavs splitting their first six games. Another
loss was followed by what proved to be a season-long winning streak of four games. Two of the victories came against the Utah Jazz, with the other two against the New York Knicks and Golden State Warriors. All of that momentum was immediately lost however, as they closed out the month with an equally long losing streak.
Anthony Davis goes down with season-ending injury
Although we didn’t know it at the time, January 8, 2026 was the last time Anthony Davis would play as a Dallas Maverick. Any remaining holdouts hoping that Davis was finally going to put a run together most likely knew that was now not to be the case. Those hoping he would stay healthy long enough to be traded were also holding their breath. The injury looked so mundane yet elicited such a visceral reaction from Davis, that you almost knew it was going to shelve him for a while, despite a variety of conflicting reports in the following days. When it was all said and done, Davis only played in 29 regular season games and two PlayIn games for the Mavericks.
Naji Marshall finally sits one out
In yet another injury-plagued season, though not nearly as bad as the prior year, Marshall proved to be the Mavericks’ ironman in the early going. On January 28, Marshall had played in all 47 games of the season to that point, before sitting out the following night. He came on strong to start the new year, scoring in double figures in all but a single game in January leading up to his first absence. His best outing of the month was a 30 point, 7 rebound, 9 assist game in a win over the Warriors on January 22. By season’s end, Marshall logged 74 games played, second on the team to only Max Christie.
Klay Thompson drains his 2,800th three-pointer
Thompson will go down as one of the very best shooters in the history of the NBA. Despite missing more than two full seasons straight, he joined elite company as only the fifth player to ever to hit 2,800 three-pointers. In the January 12 matchup against the Brooklyn Nets, Thompson connected on 3-for-7 from downtown. By the end of the season, he drained 99 more three-pointers for a solid hold on fourth all-time in three-point makes.
After the calendar turned on January, things got very rocky for the Mavericks, but more changes with an eye on the future were soon to come as well.
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