The Mavericks’ Christmas Day streak is over.
For the first time since 2019, Dallas did not land on the NBA’s five-game Christmas Day slate, which was announced Tuesday morning. After six straight years on the holiday stage, the Mavs were left out entirely.
That omission says plenty about where the franchise sits right now. Not long ago, Dallas was one of the league’s most reliable draws.
From 2020 through 2025, the Mavericks were must-watch TV, making the playoffs in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2024. That stretch included a Western Conference Finals run in 2022 and an NBA Finals appearance in 2024.
Their three-year playoff drought from 2017 to 2019 ended in Luka Doncic’s second season in 2020, and his presence helped keep Dallas on Christmas Day year after year.
The holiday spotlight changed a bit in 2025, when Anthony Davis and Cooper Flagg became the focal points. But even then, the Mavericks still had a league-wide hook.
They had traded a generational superstar, Luka Doncic, the season before, and Flagg was in his rookie season. The NBA had every reason to keep watching what happened next.
Now, that’s no longer the case. With Doncic gone, Dallas doesn’t carry the same pull it once did, and the league’s Christmas Day decision reflects that reality.
There’s also a broader basketball judgment baked into the schedule. Most analysts expect the Mavericks to be a bottom-10 team next season, and even an offseason full of strong moves hasn’t changed the perception much. The league, at least for now, doesn’t seem ready to treat Dallas like one of its marquee teams.
That can still change.
Kyrie Irving is poised to return from his ACL tear at the beginning of next season, and Cooper Flagg won Rookie of the Year. Flagg, Irving and the rest of the core will have a chance to prove the Mavericks are building something real. If they can beat expectations and push themselves back into the playoff mix, that would go a long way toward changing how the NBA sees them.
The front office already made a major shift by trading Davis in February and leaning into a future-focused approach. A solid season from here would be a meaningful first step in restoring some national respect.
For now, though, the Christmas Day snub is hard to miss. The NBA sees Dallas as a team still a few years away from being a top contender in the West, and it likely believes Flagg has more growing to do before becoming a superstar.
That may be fair. It may even be true.
Either way, the message is clear: the Mavericks have work to do before they’re back among the league’s can't-miss teams.
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