Mavericks look to extend winning ways against Utah Jazz

The Dallas Mavericks had Saturday and Sunday off, and now they'll hit the road for a matchup against the Utah Jazz. Dallas is in their best stretch of the young season, having won five of the last six games, while Utah has lost two of the last three games.

However, Utah is coming off a 140-136 win over the Memphis Grizzlies, as Keyonte George exploded for 39 points on 12/20 shooting, but he got help from Lauri Markkanen (26 points, 9 rebounds), Jusuf Nurkic (13 points, 17 rebounds, 7 assists), and Kevin Love (20 points, 8 rebounds).

Markkanen has been back to incredible this year after an odd 2024-25 campaign, as he's averaging 27.6 PPG on great shooting splits. That makes him a candidate ripe for a trade if the right offer comes to the Jazz, but teams may not be lining up to pay him nearly $200 million for the next four seasons.

Keyonte George has taken a nice step up this year, averaging 22.9 PPG and 6.8 APG, and he's doing it on a solid efficiency. It's the exact step you want to see a third-year guard take.

Dec 12, 2025; Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Utah Jazz guard Keyonte George (3) drives to the basket in the second half against the Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Smith-Imagn Images | Matthew Smith-Imagn Images

Meanwhile, rookie Ace Bailey has not had a great season so far. He's averaging 10.2 PPG, which is fine for a rookie, but when people drafted around/ahead of him, such as Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel, are playing as well as they are, "fine" feels like a disappointment. Opinions on Bailey were all over the place pre-draft, and it didn't help that he canceled every pre-draft workout in hopes of falling to the Washington Wizards at sixth overall.

The Jazz also took Walter Clayton Jr. in the first round, who hasn't made too much of an impact yet. He's averaging about 6.5 PPG in 16 minutes, and he's shooting the three poorly, which isn't what anyone would've expected after his March Madness run with Florida.

Their draft counterpart, Cooper Flagg, has been spectacular for the Mavericks recently. He's going to be the primary focus in this game, as Anthony Davis's status is in doubt as he's dealing with another calf issue. So, we should be getting first-option Cooper Flagg basketball, which is really all that we want to see at this point.