The NBA Cup groups came out Tuesday night, and while the Dallas Mavericks look like one of the up-and-coming teams thanks to Cooper Flagg, they need to remain humble.
The Mavericks are in a group with the Utah Jazz, Phoenix Suns, Houston Rockets and Denver Nuggets. You can label any group a "death group" in reality, but the Mavericks still have a lot to prove if they want to compete in the group.
With the Suns getting Miles Bridges, the Jazz with tons of young talent, and the Rockets and Nuggets with championship aspirations, this group is about the last thing Mavs fans asked for.
Mavericks' group stage schedule didn't do them any favors
The group stage is about as tough as it gets for the Mavericks, and they won't be chosen by many to get out of the group stage.
However, one difference is having Kyrie Irving play alongside Flagg, and if he can get the help he needs, who knows what could happen? The Mavericks may become the dark horse team that no one expected, but it's still going to take a lot for their opponents to get eliminated before the knockout rounds.
For Mavs fans, they may want to think about more than just the cup at this point, but last season, it mattered more than we originally thought.
People say the NBA Cup doesn't matter, or it's a "fake" championship, but if we're already forgetting the 2025 NBA Cup, it was an exact repeat of the 2026 NBA Finals. The New York Knicks defeated the San Antonio Spurs to become the NBA Cup champs. Months later, the Knicks became the NBA champs.
It's not going to be an easy feat for the Mavericks, but they can at least try to make noise with Morez Johnson Jr. and Dusty May helping out Flagg in his second season. If they can get off to a decent start this season, they at least have a chance to make something happen in the NBA Cup.
For now, the Mavericks have some tough opponents, on paper at least. They also have a "nothing to lose" attitude, and that's exactly the mentality they should go in with.
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