👋 Good morning! Happy Friday everyone! We’re halfway through the dreaded dog days of August. The Cowboys are back in Texas, school is back in session, and the NBA schedule was just released. On the other side of this heat advisory, rain is in the forecast two whole days next week! Fall is almost here, and it’s a great day to have a great day. — Bobby Karalla

The NBA released the regular season schedule yesterday! It’s always a fun day for sports fans who like to plan ahead, especially if they’re planning on joining the team anywhere around North America that isn’t American Airlines Center.

Well, the Mavs will wait longer than just about every other team to make travel plans this season. Dallas begins the 2025-26 campaign with five consecutive home games right out of the gates — against the Spurs, Wizards, Raptors, Thunder, and Pacers. All things considered, that’s a pretty friendly chunk of games to open Cooper Flagg’s career. The Spurs will by no means be pushovers with De’Aaron Fox and a healthy Victor Wembanyama, but based on win over/unders they’re expected to finish near the Mavs in the standings. Meanwhile, the Wizards, Raptors, and Pacers will probably all be bottom-half teams in the East, if not even worse than that. Tim Cato has more here.

All told, the Mavs will play 13 of their first 18 games at home, a terrific way to not only ease into the marathon, but also to get Flagg used to NBA basketball before he’ll get used to life in the NBA. Optimistically, assuming Kyrie Irving is able to return some time in early 2026, he could be available for the team when the schedule becomes terribly road-heavy in February and March, when wins will be tougher to come by.

The Mavs will play the Lakers four times this season, first on Nov. 28 in LA as part of the NBA Cup. Luka doesn’t make his return to American Airlines Center until Jan. 24, in what I believe will be the first Saturday night NBA primetime game on ABC of the season. Typically ABC waits until after college and pro football are done playing games on Saturdays to put basketball on national TV. College will be over by then, and that’s the Saturday of NFL championship weekend, when the only two games are on Sunday.

In other words, that Mavs/Lakers game is going to do crazy stupid ratings, assuming all key figures involved are healthy and available. Two other meetings will air on Prime, where game analyst Dirk Nowitzki will talk us through the emotions of it all.

Also don’t forget, NBA fans: Leagues are determined to make it tougher and tougher to remember where to go to watch games. Memorize this!

And don’t forget to check your local listings for more!

Check out our full schedule release show here.

I’m not gonna go game-by-game to get in my Mavs season predictions, but recently Tim Cato and I went through over/unders for every team in the league and made our selections (not advice). Dallas was at 40.5. Tim took the over and I took the under, partly because I did indeed lay money down on that at the Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas. (If the Mavs have a lousy season, at least I’ll get a couple free dinners out of it!) It wouldn’t surprise me if I’m wrong, though.

Where do you think they’ll end up? Vote below and let me know!

What’s stopping Micah Parsons and Jerry Jones from talking? “Nothing,” Jerry says. Micah disagrees, on anatomical grounds. “My mouth is closed,” Parsons says. What’s stopping me from becoming the Joker thanks to this entire thing? Only Clarence Hill’s good vibes and positive mindset.

The Rangers keep talking about turning it around. They believe they can, and they certainly have the talent to. And, yet… this is somehow just a .500 ballclub with 40 games to go. Jeff Wilson sets the scene ahead of a difficult series in Toronto for what will either be a tremendous rally or another disappointing season in Arlington.

We finally had the whole gang together on yesterday’s DLLS Wings show! Between vacations and real-life stuff, Erika Day, Kevin Gray, Dorothy J. Gentry, and I haven’t all been together for a jam session in a while. But yesterday we made it happen and had a great time talking about, well, a not-so-great season.

One thing you need to know about me: I really hate the whole robot thing. Like I’m a “get off my lawn or I’ll unplug ya” kind of guy about all of it.

I can confidently say I’d dust every single one of these little clankers. I’ve never felt so powerful. Have a great weekend, humanity!

Be sure to subscribe to our shows wherever you listen to your podcasts. Traffic can be the worst, and one of the best ways I get through it is by listening to the audio versions of our DLLS shows. You should, too!

Bobby Karalla
DLLS Sports Head of Content​
[email protected]