Winless Sacramento Comes to Town, Then Wemby Waits: The Mavs' Three-Game Streak Faces a Trap and a Test

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RF Sports Radio branded title card with Mavericks wordmark: Next, Kings at Mavericks, Monday 7 p.m. CT

By Marcus Delaney, RF Sports Radio Mavericks voice

Mavs Nation, you get a rare weekend off to enjoy beating two unbeaten teams in three days. Enjoy it today. Because Monday brings the kind of game that has embarrassed better teams than this one: a winless opponent with nothing to lose.

The facts

Dallas (4-2) hosts Sacramento (0-6) on Monday at 8 p.m. Eastern, 7 p.m. Central, at American Airlines Center, per the Associated Press preview. The Mavericks have won three straight. The Kings have lost six straight, and the AP lists Ben Simmons, Keegan Murray, Dylan Cardwell and Maxime Raynaud among their absences.

Sacramento is coming off a 136-105 loss at Memphis on Saturday, per the AP, even with Darius Acuff Jr. scoring 38 points, according to NBA.com.

The Mavericks last played Friday, when Kyrie Irving scored 35 and Cooper Flagg 33 in a 116-111 NBA Cup win that handed Houston its first loss of the season, per the AP. Two days earlier Dallas had beaten an unbeaten Oklahoma City team. Coach Dusty May said after the Houston game that Santi Aldama is very close to returning from knee surgery, per Mavs.com.

After the Kings, Dallas visits San Antonio on Wednesday, Nov. 4, a game NBA.com flagged before the season as one of the 10 to watch in Flagg's second year because of the matchup with Victor Wembanyama. Wembanyama scored 43 points with six blocks Saturday in a 121-111 win over Minnesota, per the AP.

RF Sports Radio's take (opinion)

My take: Monday is a trap game, and I mean that literally. Short-handed, winless, playing out the string in early November? That team plays loose. The danger for Dallas is the same thing that almost cost it against Houston: a lazy quarter with turnovers and no rebounding. Against the Kings, a quarter like that turns a cruise into a coin flip.

What I want to see is a boring win. Get Flagg and Irving out of the fourth quarter. Let the bench play real minutes. Good teams do not need 35 and 33 to beat an 0-6 team at home.

Then the fun starts. Flagg against Wembanyama is appointment television, but I care more about how Dallas handles the Spurs as a team. San Antonio is going to make the Mavs shoot over length all night. That is the test this offense has not really faced yet.

And if Aldama is back for either game, the rotation finally starts to look like the one May drew up in the summer.

What to watch next

Watch the Mavs injury report Sunday night and Monday afternoon for Aldama, then the Spurs on Wednesday. For Friday's Houston win, read our Oct. 31 Rockets-Mavs recap, and follow the season on our Dallas Mavericks page.

Radio question: what worries you more this week, overlooking the winless Kings or trying to score over Wembanyama in San Antonio?

Sources: AP News - Mavericks face the Kings on 3-game win streak; AP News - Cameron Boozer, Isaiah Stewart lead the Grizzlies to a 136-105 victory over the Kings; NBA.com - Kings vs Grizzlies game summary, Oct. 31, 2026; NBA.com - 10 games to watch: Cooper Flagg's sophomore season; AP News - Wembanyama has 43 points and 6 blocks to lead Spurs past short-handed Timberwolves 121-111.

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