by Thomas Quaynor for Wannamakeabet.com
The first half of the NBA season concludes tonight with the reeling Dallas Mavericks (19-34) visiting the Los Angeles Lakers (32-21) at Crypto.com Arena on Prime Video. This will be the third of four matchups between the Mavs and Lakers. The Lakers were victorious in the first two meetings — 129-119 at home on Nov. 28 and 116-110 on the road on Jan. 24. The teams will face off for a final time on April 5.
The Lakers have won four in a row against Dallas since February 2025. Not surprisingly, the four straight wins occurred after Luka Doncic was traded from Dallas to the Lakers on Feb. 2, 2025.
Los Angeles is a 6.5-point favorite and the total is 234.5.
WHAT BOTH TEAMS DID IN THEIR PREVIOUS GAME
Dallas lost at Phoenix 120-111 on Tuesday night. Phoenix dominated Dallas from the opening tip, jumping out to an 11-1 lead. The Suns closed the first quarter with a 20-point lead (36-16) and were never really challenged afterwards. Naji Marshall scored a game-high 31 points (12-17 FG, 2-4 3Pt, 5-7) and added four rebounds in 36 minutes off the bench for Dallas. Rookie phenom Cooper Flagg put up 27 points (8-20 FG, 0-1 3Pt, 11-14 FT), five rebounds, two assists and a steal across 36 minutes.
Dallas has lost 8 games in a row. Its longest skid since November 2016 when they also lost 8 in a row. Tonight’s contest is the third leg of a six-game road trip for Dallas. They’ll have stops in Minnesota, Indiana and Brooklyn after the All-Star break.
The San Antonio Spurs clobbered the short-handed Lakers 136-108 in Los Angeles on Tuesday night. San Antonio’s superstar center Victor Wembanyama scored 37 of his season-high 40 points in the first half against the depleted Lakers. The Spurs led 84-55 at halftime.
Los Angeles was missing its top four scorers in Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, LeBron James and Deandre Ayton against the Spurs on Tuesday. Luke Kennard and Drew Timme each scored 14 points to lead the Lakers in the loss. Tonight is the fifth leg of an 8-game homestand for the Lakers. They are 2-2 so far on the homestand, and will close out with the Clippers, Celtics and Magic after the All-Star break.
LUKA DONCIC-ANTHONY DAVIS TRADE AFTERMATH: 2024-25 SEASON
A little over a year ago on February 2, 2025, these teams pulled off one of the most stunning trades in NBA history when the Dallas Mavericks sent its then-25-year-old All-NBA, franchise player Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for a package that included oft-injured, 31-year-old superstar center Anthony Davis.
It seemed like an odd move for Dallas due to the fact that Luka Doncic had just led Dallas to the 2024 NBA Finals and amassed a stellar 6-year run with the Mavericks since he was drafted third overall in the 2018 NBA draft. Doncic’s accolades with Dallas included winning the 2018-19 Rookie of the Year, making 5 All-Star teams and 4 All-NBA teams.
On the other hand, Anthony Davis was notorious for constant stints in the injured list, but was dominant when he was on the floor over his 12 NBA seasons. The Lakers were ecstatic to move on from Davis who had worn out his welcome due to spending a lot of time in ‘street clothes’ after he helped lead the Lakers to the 2019-20 COVID-interrupted NBA title in his first season with the team.
Most NBA observers initially thought the trade was lopsided in the Lakers’ favor due to Anthony Davis being older and injury prone. And those sentiments ended up being accurate as Davis sustained an injury in his first game as a Maverick on Feb. 8, 2024. He ended up playing just 9 games with Dallas after the trade. Meanwhile, Luka Doncic played in 28 regular season and 5 postseason games with the Lakers.
Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison took the lion’s share of the blame for trading Luka Doncic. Harrison would be jeered at Mavericks home games towards the end of the 2024-25 season because of how badly the Luka Doncic trade backfired for the Mavericks. Things got even worse when star guard Kyrie Irving tore his left ACL on March 3, 2025.
Nico Harrison got a bit of a reprieve when Dallas — who missed the playoffs with a 39-43 record and had just a 1.8% chance of obtaining the first pick — won the draft lottery in May and landed the No. 1 overall pick. Dallas was able to select Duke freshman phenom Cooper Flagg, who was the consensus No.1 overall pick and one of the most ballyhooed prospects in recent draft history.
LUKA DONCIC-ANTHONY DAVIS TRADE AFTERMATH: 2025-26 SEASON
Heading into the 2025-26 season, it appeared as if general manager Nico Harrison would get the last laugh after Dallas drafted Cooper Flagg, but the injury woes for Anthony Davis continued and the Mavs got off to a woeful 3-10 start. This led to the firing of Nico Harrison on Nov. 11.
Dallas also traded Anthony Davis to the lowly Washington Wizards on Feb. 4 in a three-team deal that brought back a package that featured Kris Middleton and Marvin Bagley III. Trading Davis was essentially a salary dump for Dallas. So, in the end, Dallas wound up trading its 25-year-old franchise player Luka Doncic for Kris Middleton and Marvin Bagley III.
Anthony Davis’s disappointing tenure in Dallas concluded with him playing in just 29 of 83 games. Dallas was 16-13 when Davis played, so they could have been formidable if he stayed healthy. The Washington Wizards quickly declared that Davis would miss the rest of the season. It’s unclear whether the Wizards have long-term plans for Davis.
Despite the dreary season for Dallas in terms of record, Cooper Flagg has exceeded expectations as a rookie. The 19-year-old Duke product is compiling a phenomenal debut season averaging 20.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.1 threes on 48.2 percent shooting from the floor in 49 games. Flagg registered a 49-point game against Charlotte on Jan. 29. It was the most points by a player under the age of 20 in NBA history.
Cooper Flagg will miss tonight’s game due to a foot injury. He’ll also be held out of tomorrow night’s Rising Stars game at the NBA’s All-Star weekend. Flagg isn’t expected to miss any games when Dallas returns for the second half of the season on Feb. 20. Naji Marshall (15 ppg), PJ Washington (14 ppg) and the newly-acquired Kris Middleton (13 pts in Mavs debut) should see an uptick in usage with Flagg out.
After Dallas traded Anthony Davis for 20 cents on the dollar eight days ago, it looks as if their plan is to build from scratch around Cooper Flagg. Which puts them in a dilemma on how to handle Kyrie Irving. Do they bring him back this year to showcase him for an offseason trade? Or do they keep him out for the rest of the season and make a decision on what to do with him in the offseason?
The Lakers are still somewhat of a work in progress as the Luka Doncic-LeBron James pairing has yet to translate into championship-level play. Los Angeles lost in 5 games (4-1) to the Minnesota Timberwolves last season in the playoffs, and are currently sixth in the loaded Western Conference. The Lakers don’t appear to be anywhere close to the level of Western Conference powers Oklahoma City and San Antonio up to this point of the season.
The trio of Luka Doncic (NBA-leading 32.8 ppg, 8.6 asts, 7.8 rebs, 1.5 stls, 3.5 threes, 47.5% from 2 in 42 gms), emerging superstar Austin Reaves (career-high 25.7 ppg, 6 asts, 5.1 rebs, 1 stl, 2.6 threes, 50.8% from 2, 36.3% from 3 in 27 gms) and 41-year-old LeBron James (21.8 ppg, 6.9 asts, 5.7 rebs, 1.1 stls, 1.4 threes, 50.2% from 2 in 35 gms) are putting up tremendous individual seasons for the Lakers. James was selected to participate in the All-Star game for an NBA-record 22nd consecutive season.
Luka Doncic will miss tonight’s game due to a left hamstring strain. The injury has kept him of four straight games now.
THE PICK: LAKERS (-6.5)
After the Lakers “scheduled loss” against San Antonio on Tuesday night, I expect them to come out clicking on all cylinders against the struggling Mavericks tonight. The Mavs will likely be more focused on getting an 8-day break than competing against the Lakers tonight, especially with superstar rookie Cooper Flagg not playing. Lay the Points and take the Lakers tonight!
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