Featured Game of the Day

There's no sugarcoating what's happened to the Dallas Mavericks. Twelve months ago, this franchise was riding the high of a Western Conference Finals appearance with Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving leading the charge. Now? Luka is in Los Angeles after the blockbuster Anthony Davis swap in February 2025, Kyrie Irving won't play another game this season after ongoing recovery from a torn ACL in his left knee, and the Mavericks are sitting at 19-35 with their longest losing streak in nearly three decades.

Nine straight losses. The last time Dallas strung together that kind of futility was the 1997-98 season, back when the franchise was drafting in the lottery and praying for a savior named Dirk Nowitzki. The parallels are almost too obvious, because Dallas is once again building around a transcendent young talent in Cooper Flagg, the number one overall pick out of Duke who has been the lone bright spot in an otherwise miserable campaign. But tonight, coming off the All-Star break and traveling to Minneapolis to face a red-hot Timberwolves squad, the Mavericks are looking at a mountain they probably can't climb. The 12.5-point spread is the largest on the entire NBA board tonight, and frankly, it tells you everything you need to know about where these two franchises stand relative to each other right now.

Anthony Edwards doesn't just have momentum right now. He has a jet engine strapped to his back. Four days ago, Edwards took home the Kobe Bryant All-Star MVP trophy after pouring in 32 points across three games in the revamped All-Star format, earning 10 of the 14 possible MVP votes. He shot 13-of-22 from the floor and drained 6 three-pointers, looking every bit like the alpha dog the league has been waiting for him to become. This wasn't a guy going through the motions in a meaningless exhibition. Edwards played with purpose, attacked the rim with violence, and reminded the entire basketball world why he's the heartbeat of this Minnesota franchise.

His regular season numbers are absurd. Edwards is averaging a career-high 29.3 points per game on 49.3% shooting from the field and a scorching 40.2% from beyond the arc. That three-point percentage is a revelation for a player who shot 35.7% from deep last year. He's not just volume scoring, either, he's doing it with legitimate efficiency that puts him in the conversation with the very best offensive players in the league. He's already broken the Timberwolves' all-time record for career 30-point games, passing 102 earlier this season, and dropped a season-high 44 points in an overtime win against New Orleans back in December. The question for Dallas isn't whether Edwards will get his tonight. He will. The question is whether anyone on their roster can even slow him down, and the honest answer is probably no.

The most compelling storyline on the Dallas side is whether Cooper Flagg will suit up after missing time with a left midfoot sprain suffered on February 10 against Phoenix. Reports out of Dallas before the break suggested Flagg would be available for the first game back, but he was spotted wearing a walking boot while attending a Duke game during the break, which sent a brief wave of panic through the Mavericks' fanbase. The expectation remains that he'll play, and Dallas desperately needs him, because without Flagg this roster is genuinely one of the thinnest in the NBA.

Even at full strength, Flagg has been carrying an enormous burden for a 19-year-old. He's averaging 20.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 4.1 assists per game, numbers that have him firmly in the lead for Rookie of the Year. What's been most impressive is how his game has transformed since Dallas moved him out of an ill-fitting point guard role early in the season, when he was shooting just 38.8% from the floor and averaging only 13.6 points. Once the coaching staff let him operate at his natural forward position, the numbers exploded: 19.9 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 4.4 assists on 49.2% shooting over his last 34 games. The three-point shot is still a work in progress at 28.6%, but his ability to attack the basket, create for others, and impact the game on the defensive end with 1.4 steals and 1.4 blocks per game has been remarkable for a teenager. Tonight, though, he's running into a Rudy Gobert-anchored defense that eats rookies alive at the rim.

The Timberwolves are scoring 119.7 points per game, third in the entire NBA, and they're doing it with a balanced attack that's incredibly difficult to game plan against. Edwards is the engine, obviously, but Julius Randle has been a legitimate co-star, putting up 22.3 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 5.4 assists per game. Randle recently went off for a season-high 41 points against Portland on 14-of-24 shooting, and his ability to operate from the mid-range and the post gives Minnesota a totally different offensive dimension than what Edwards provides. When both guys are cooking, the Wolves' offense becomes almost impossible to contain, because you can't double Edwards without leaving Randle in space, and you can't load up on Randle without giving Edwards room to operate off the dribble.

Then there's Rudy Gobert, the four-time Defensive Player of the Year who has been absolutely dominant on the glass recently. Gobert is averaging 11.0 points and 11.1 rebounds on the season, but over his last 15 games those rebounding numbers have surged to 12.1 per game, and he's shooting 69.0% from the floor while blocking 1.8 shots per contest. He's recorded 12-plus rebounds in six consecutive games, and his rim protection transforms Minnesota's entire defensive identity. Dallas is scoring just 113.9 points per game this season, ranked 22nd in the league, and they're allowing 117.4 on the other end, which is 21st. That's a negative point differential that gets even uglier on the road, where the Mavericks have lost four straight. Against a Timberwolves team that ranks in the top 10 in both offensive and defensive rating, one of just five teams in the league who can make that claim, this is a brutal matchup for Dallas at virtually every position.

If there's been one genuinely surprising development for Dallas this season, it's the emergence of Naji Marshall as a legitimate NBA scorer. Marshall has scored 20-plus points in five of his last seven games, averaging 22.0 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 5.3 assists during that stretch on a blistering 58.0% shooting from the floor. The Mavericks considered him untouchable at the trade deadline, viewing him as a core piece of the rebuild alongside Flagg, and his development from a fringe rotation player to a guy putting up near-All-Star numbers in February has been one of the best stories in the league this season.

But here's the problem: beyond Marshall and Flagg, the cupboard is bare. PJ Washington is a solid role player averaging 12.7 points and 8.3 rebounds, but he's shooting just 45.1% from the field and isn't the kind of second or third option who can carry you against elite competition. Klay Thompson, who was supposed to provide veteran shooting, has been a shell of himself at 11.6 points per game on 38.8% shooting, a far cry from the Splash Brother days. The Mavericks' three best players right now, Flagg, Marshall, and Washington, are outgunned by Minnesota's top three of Edwards, Randle, and Gobert at every level. It's not just a talent gap, it's a chasm, and the 12.5-point spread reflects that reality pretty accurately.

This is the biggest number on the NBA board tonight, and it exists for very obvious reasons. Minnesota is 7-3 in their last 10 games and 7-3 against the spread in that same window, which means the Wolves haven't just been winning, they've been covering. Dallas, meanwhile, is 3-7 ATS in their last 10 and riding a nine-game losing streak that has them staring down the possibility of their first double-digit losing streak since 1998. The market isn't just saying Minnesota is better. The market is saying Minnesota is significantly, overwhelmingly better, and recent performance backs that up.

The total of 236.5 is worth discussing because it feels like it could go either way depending on how seriously Minnesota takes this game. The Wolves score 119.7 per game and Dallas allows 117.4, which would put you right around 237 if you simply add those numbers together. But this is the first game back from the All-Star break for both teams, and post-break games historically tend to feature sloppier play, more turnovers, and teams working their way back into rhythm. Dallas has no incentive to push pace against a team they can't keep up with, and Minnesota may not need to press the gas if they build an early double-digit lead, which feels like the most likely game script. The addition of Mike Conley, who just re-signed with Minnesota after a salary-cap maneuver through Charlotte, gives the Wolves even more playmaking depth off the bench, though his exact role alongside new acquisition Ayo Dosunmu remains to be seen.

This game is a collision between two franchises at completely opposite ends of the NBA spectrum. Minnesota is chasing OKC for the top seed in the Western Conference at 34-22, riding an All-Star MVP performance from their franchise player, and boasting a roster with legitimate championship aspirations. Dallas is a 19-35 team that has lost nine straight, is missing its second-best player for the rest of the season, and is openly building around a 19-year-old rookie who may or may not be fully healthy after a midfoot sprain. The talent disparity is real, the momentum disparity is real, and the home-court advantage at Target Center only amplifies both.

The one thing worth watching closely is how Edwards comes out of the break. History tells us that superstars riding emotional highs from All-Star Weekend sometimes carry that energy right into the first game back, and Edwards has been vocal about his desire to push Minnesota toward a championship this season. If he comes out firing with the same intensity he showed in earning MVP honors, this could get out of hand early. On the Dallas side, the Flagg injury situation is the swing factor. If the rookie phenom plays and plays well, the Mavericks at least have a chance to keep this competitive in the first half. If he's limited or sits, Dallas is looking at a roster that simply doesn't have the firepower to hang with one of the best teams in the Western Conference. This is a fascinating study in where two organizations are in their respective timelines, even if the competitive balance of the actual game feels like a foregone conclusion.