5 toughest games for Dallas Mavericks in 2025-26

As the regular season approaches, the schedules have dropped for every NBA team, including the Dallas Mavericks. Coming off of an extremely disappointing and painful 2024-25 season defined by front office missteps and bad luck, the franchise will look to rebound for the upcoming season as it moves from the Luka Doncic era into the Cooper Flagg era.

The schedule has its ups and downs as far as difficulty goes – it starts off with a six-game homestand against the Spurs, Wizards, Raptors, Thunder, Pacers, and Pistons, before their first road game hits. In an 82-game season, there will be plenty of tough matchups – but what are the toughest games of the season?

Jul 10, 2025; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg (32) looks on against the Los Angeles Lakers in the third quarter of their game at Thomas & Mack Center. Mandatory Credit: Candice Ward-Imagn Images | Candice Ward-Imagn Images

Here are the five toughest road games that will be true litmus tests of this team's ceiling.

Saturday, Nov. 3, at Houston Rockets

The first game away from the American Airlines Center in 2025 will be one of the team's toughest battles as they take on the new-look Houston Rockets, who have added an All-NBA talent in Kevin Durant. Houston, which was a 2-seed last season, addressed their biggest issue, which was efficient half-court scoring, by adding one of the best to ever do it. Retaining nearly all of their personnel from a 52-win team last year, they will be one of the teams to beat in the NBA this upcoming season.

Monday, Dec. 1, at Denver Nuggets

The Nuggets' biggest star is obviously future Hall-of-Fame member Nikola Jokic, but they made some fantastic moves in the offseason, adding Brooklyn's Cam Johnson in a trade and signing guards Tim Hardaway Jr. and Bruce Brown. Additionally, the front office gave Jokic some backup by trading for Jonas Valanciunas. Consider the altitude difference that helps give Denver an even more intense home-court advantage, and you get a very difficult game

Friday, Dec. 5, at Oklahoma City Thunder

The defending NBA Champions, Oklahoma City, boasted a blistering 35-6 record on their home floor during the regular season of 2024-25, and brought back their entire roster plus additions from the draft in 2024 pick Nikola Topic and 2025 selection Thomas Sorber. The outright favorite to repeat and win another title in 2025-26, the Thunder will continue to be a difficult challenge for any NBA team.

May 31, 2025; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (11) reacts in the second quarter during game six of the eastern conference finals against the Indiana Pacers for the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images | Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

Monday, Jan. 19, at New York Knicks

The New York Knicks nearly made their first NBA Finals since 1999, but fell short last summer in a 4-2 series loss to the Indiana Pacers. They bring back most of their stars, including former Maverick Jalen Brunson, as well as center Karl-Anthony Towns, wings Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges, and forward OG Anunoby. Madison Square Garden is one of the premier places in all of basketball, and it will be rocking for this Monday night game.

Thursday, Feb. 12, at Los Angeles Lakers

The backstory is obvious enough with the Luka Doncic trade that occurred last February, but LA added several pieces to their roster for 2025-26 to help improve their chances of bringing Doncic his first NBA Title and LeBron James his fifth. They traded up to draft athletic combo forward Adou Thiero out of Arkansas, as well as adding Portland center DeAndre Ayton, Sacramento forward Jake LaRavia, and free agent guard Marcus Smart.

Overall, the first half of Dallas' schedule is tougher than the second half, but each has its own difficulties. Four of their last five games are on the road, including trips to play the Los Angeles Clippers and San Antonio Spurs. Their penultimate home game will be another return home for Luka Doncic, his second of the 2026 calendar year, before the four-game road stretch and then the season finale against Chicago at the AAC on April 12.

Though the Mavericks are in a period of transition, winning any of these games could give them momentum for the rest of their games, as well as provide some confidence that they can play with the best teams in the league – home or away.

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