The Memphis Grizzlies, Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks, and New Orleans Pelicans wasted no time in the offseason building up their rosters for another year of competitive Western Conference basketball. Since 16 out of 82 regular-season games are against other Southwest Division teams, the Grizzlies need to make these matchups a priority.
Part three of The Stacked Southwest series is about the Dallas Mavericks — breaking down the team, last year’s matchups, and the importance of every game against Dallas in the 2025-26 season. How will Memphis fare against the post-Doncic era Mavs? This is a team and fanbase eager to win and prove they are worth the hype, but the Grizzlies can’t let them plant their "Flagg".
Will the Mavericks live up to their expectations?
The bar is set relatively high for the Mavericks right now, mostly because of all the buzz surrounding Cooper Flagg. Flagg only played two games in the summer league, but he showed flashes of greatness. Kyrie Irving possibly might not play until early 2026; however, he doesn't want to rush his return.
Until then, the Mavericks will have to rely on Anthony Davis, Daniel Gafford, Klay Thompson, Naji Marshall, P.J. Washington, and Dereck Lively II, in addition to Flagg. If this team is fully healthy, they could be a major threat in the division and the entire Western Conference. If they aren’t fully healthy, then they will likely be somewhere in the middle.
Fourth quarter meltdown spoiled Memphis’ series sweep
These two teams played four times during the regular season last year and the Grizzlies won three out of four. In addition to those games, they competed in the play-in tournament, which Memphis won 120-106. The one game that Memphis dropped left fans relatively frustrated, because the Grizzlies lost control of a matchup they could’ve easily won.
On multiple occasions in the 4th quarter, Memphis had a 15-point lead, but that quickly disappeared once the Grizzlies found themselves in foul trouble. From that point forward, Dallas kept the game close before eventually taking the lead and defeating Memphis by a final score of 121-116. Thirty of Dallas’ points came at the free throw line, where they shot their season-high of 44 free throws.
New look Grizz vs. new look Mavs
The Grizzlies and Mavericks have each made several roster changes since last year, so it’s hard to predict exactly how the teams will match up before the season begins. Even so, the Grizzlies should still remain competitive against a relatively healthy Mavericks team.
The first game between Memphis and Dallas this season will take place on November 7th at FedExForum, which also happens to be one of the NBA Cup games. Hopefully, the Grizzlies secure the victory in front of their home crowd, especially with a tough stretch of games on the horizon.
A couple of weeks later, on November 22nd, the teams will face off again, but this time in Dallas. If Memphis can gain a 2-0 advantage over the Mavericks before the possible return of Kyrie Irving, they’ll be well-positioned heading into 2026, when the rest of the series takes place.