The Dallas Mavericks will host the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday night at American Airlines Center, carrying one of the most depleted rosters they’ve had all season with nine players either ruled out, doubtful, or limited heading into the 7 p.m. tip. Dallas enters the game at 21-38.
The Mavericks ruled out Cooper Flagg (left midfoot sprain), Kyrie Irving (left knee surgery), Dereck Lively II (right foot surgery), and Marvin Bagley III (neck sprain) for Sunday’s game.
Bagley suffered the neck injury when he took a knee to the back of the neck against Sacramento on Thursday, returned to finish that game, but has not played since. In seven games with Dallas, he is averaging 13.0 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 1.0 block on 61.3% shooting.
P.J. Washington is listed as doubtful after spraining his left ankle late in the fourth quarter of Dallas’s win at Brooklyn on Feb. 24. Washington is averaging 14.3 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 1.9 assists on 44.8% shooting this season.
Naji Marshall was downgraded from questionable to doubtful with a right finger contusion. Marshall is averaging 15.4 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 3.1 assists on 53.1% shooting this season. He scored 36 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and dished six assists against Sacramento on Thursday before managing just 4 points on 2-of-6 shooting in 24 minutes against Memphis on Friday.
Caleb Martin was upgraded from questionable to probable despite low back soreness.
Moussa Cissé is listed as questionable as a two-way player nearing the 50-game eligibility limit.
Cooper Flagg’s Return Timeline Still Unclear
Flagg continues to sit, and there is no clear end in sight. The No. 1 overall pick has not played since suffering a left midfoot sprain on Feb. 10 in Phoenix, and Sunday will mark his seventh consecutive absence and 11th missed game of the season overall.
Head coach Jason Kidd offered little optimism when asked Friday about the possibility of Flagg returning for Tuesday’s road game in Charlotte — a game that had generated significant early-season buzz given the potential matchup between Flagg and fellow rookie Kon Knueppel.
“Probably not that he will play,” Kidd said.
Dallas is in no hurry, handling the injury on a day-to-day basis as the foot responds to treatment. What was initially expected to sideline Flagg through All-Star Weekend has now stretched well beyond it. Before the injury, he was averaging 20.4 points on 48.2% shooting, 6.6 rebounds, and 4.1 assists across 49 games.
Daniel Gafford Managing Right Ankle Issue Dating Back to Training Camp
While Gafford is not on the injury report Sunday, he has been quietly working through a right ankle problem that has followed him since the first day of training camp in Vancouver nearly five months ago. The injury has forced him in and out of the lineup — he has missed 17 games this season — and has taken a physical and mental strain that Gafford addressed candidly after Friday’s loss to Memphis.
“This is the first time I’ve dealt with an injury that’s been prolonged throughout the season,” Gafford said. “It’s kind of like a tug of war battle. Nights like these, I’d say it’s around 75-80 percent healthy. Mentally, it’s a little wear and tear on the brain.”
He has pushed through regardless.
“There is pain, but we got a job to do,” Gafford said. “Trying to play through that is going to help me in the long run.”
Gafford is averaging 8.2 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.3 blocks, and 21.3 minutes per game this season — his lowest output across all four categories since at least the 2022-23 campaign. He is shooting 63.2% from the field, which speaks to the efficiency he maintains when on the floor, but the restricted workload has limited his overall impact, a development difficult to ignore.
Against Memphis on Friday, though, Gafford showed what he is capable of when his body cooperates, scoring 14 points on 7-of-8 shooting, with five rebounds and two blocks in 20 minutes.
“This is probably the best I’ve felt when it comes to my ankle,” Gafford said. “I’m just trying to get back into game shape.”
He will need to be close to that level on Sunday with so much of Dallas’s frontcourt unavailable.
Dallas Mavericks Roster in Flux Following Wave of Transactions
The injury report arrives amid a busy stretch of roster moves. Dallas signed John Poulakidas and Tyler Smith to two-way contracts on Sunday, while waiving two-way Miles Kelly.
The Mavericks also converted guard Ryan Nembhard to a multi-year standard contract and waived veteran guard Tyus Jones on Saturday.
Poulakidas, a 6-foot-6 guard who shot 47.3% from three-point range in 24 G League games with San Diego this season, gives Dallas one of the sharper three-point strokes available at that level and figures to serve as Kelly’s direct replacement among the two-way slots.
Smith, a 6-foot-9 forward selected 33rd overall by Milwaukee in the 2024 NBA Draft, averaged 15.9 points and 5.2 rebounds on 50.9% shooting in 19 games with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers this season. With Dallas short on frontcourt bodies, his ability to play inside and out gives the Mavericks a useful option.
Whether either player will be available on Sunday remains unclear.
AJ Johnson Recalled After Debut With Texas Legends
AJ Johnson, who was on assignment with the Texas Legends on Saturday night, has been recalled and is available for Sunday’s game against Oklahoma City.
Johnson scored 27 points on 10-of-14 shooting in his Legends debut at Comerica Center, finishing with three rebounds and three assists while shooting 2-of-4 from three and 3-of-3 from the free-throw line. The performance came sandwiched between back-to-back NBA games — he played 34 minutes for Dallas against Memphis on Friday and will be available again Sunday — a workload Johnson embraced without reservation.
Saturday night showed what the 21-year-old can do with real minutes. Over his seven games with the Mavericks, Johnson has averaged 3.6 points in 9.3 minutes per game. He looked like a different player with the ball in his hands more often.
Legends head coach Max Hooper didn’t mince words.
“It has nothing to do with the 27 points — it has to do with how he got those 27 points and the way he played the game,” Hooper said. “Anytime you told him something, it was ‘Yes, coach.’ When I told him to be aggressive, he went out and was aggressive.”
Johnson arrived in Dallas on Feb. 5 as part of the trade that sent Anthony Davis to Washington.
Oklahoma City Thunder Also Dealing With Absences
The Mavericks won’t be alone in their injury trouble Sunday. For the defending NBA champion Thunder, Jalen Williams (right hamstring strain), Ajay Mitchell (abdominal strain/left ankle sprain), Branden Carlson (low back strain), and Thomas Sorber (right ACL surgical recovery) are all out. Nikola Topić is also unavailable on a G League assignment.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, however, is expected to play after returning Thursday from a nine-game absence with an abdominal strain. The reigning MVP finished with 36 points, nine rebounds, two steals, and two blocks in Oklahoma City’s 127-121 overtime win over Denver in his return, though he did not play in the extra session due to a minutes restriction.
The Thunder enter Sunday at 46-15, having won both previous meetings against Dallas this season by a combined 28 points.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT at American Airlines Center. The game can be seen on MavsTV and KFAA.
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