Dallas, TX
Even without Maxi Kleber, the Mavericks have a favorable matchup against OKC Thunder
There is never a good time, especially in the postseason, to lose a player of Maxi Kleber’s caliber.
But if Mavericks fans are looking for a silver lining after Sunday’s confirmation that Kleber will miss a minimum of three weeks with a right shoulder AC joint separation, there are worse second-round opponents to face under the circumstances than the Thunder.
“Oklahoma’s not a big team,” coach Jason Kidd noted Sunday, after the Mavericks’ first practice in preparation for the Western Conference semifinals, which open Tuesday in Oklahoma City. “We’ve got quite a few bigs that we can go to.”
Not that Kidd in any way is downplaying the significance of losing Kleber, Dallas’ best-defending big man. The reality is there’s nothing the Mavericks can do about Kleber’s absence and, if anything, Dallas on paper has a decided muscle advantage in the middle in this series.
Granted, Thunder rookie sensation Chet Holmgren stands 7-1, but at 195 pounds he will be challenged to contain Mavericks counterparts Daniel Gafford (6-10, 234) and Dereck Lively II (7-1, 230) if they catch the basketball anywhere near the basket.
Starting with MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, 57-win, No. 1 seed Oklahoma City has a talent array that belies the team’s average age of 24, with only one basket scored by a player age 25 or older during its first-round sweep of New Orleans.
Dallas’ two most notable matchup advantages, though, are that it has two superstars – Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving – to OKC’s one; and that it has become more physically imposing since the Feb. 8 acquisitions of Gafford and P.J. Washington Jr.
Two days after those trades, Dallas hosted OKC in what would be the Mavericks’ only meeting this season against the Thunder with both Doncic and Irving on the court.
Oklahoma City was playing with three days of rest, but the Mavericks pummeled the Thunder 146-111. Despite playing without Lively (nasal fracture), Dallas outrebounded OKC 54-40 and dominated in paint points, 66-34.
“That’s just a regular-season game; playoffs are a little different,” Kidd said. “But making those trades and having Kai and Luka play for the first time against Oklahoma City, we can look at some of the things that we had success with and hopefully we can do that again on Tuesday.”
Kleber, though, not only played in that Feb. 10 game, but started and finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
Kleber was limited to 43 games this season, with 38 of his absences coming as a result of a right small toe dislocation. How important is he to Dallas’ success? The Mavericks were 27-16 with him this season; 23-16 without him.
According to NBA.com tracking, opponents shot 43.1% this season when guarded by Kleber, the lowest percentage among Mavericks.
In the first round playoff series, Clippers players shot 27.9% against Kleber before his scary fall and hard landing in the second quarter of Game 6, when Amir Coffee tried to take a charge – after Kleber became airborne.
“Just seeing one of our family members go down that, we all get hit,” Lively said Sunday. “Just being able to know we’ve got to be able to pick him up, there’s a lot of people who were looking at us; a lot of people was questioning what we were going to do.
“Maxi knows that we’ve got his back and we know that he’s going to do whatever we can to get better. But we’ve got to be able to take it game-by-game. Next man up.”
A Mavericks official on Saturday told The News that Kleber suffered a third-degree sprain of his AC joint ligaments. The Clippers’ Chris Paul in 2014 sustained a similar injury and did not require surgery, but he missed 18 games.
The Mavericks on Sunday announced that Kleber will be re-evaluated in three weeks, seemingly meaning the soonest he would be cleared to practice is May 26.
The conference finals are scheduled to begin May 21-22. If Dallas is able to get past Oklahoma City, they would face either Minnesota – a team with a deep and formidable front court – or Denver and MVP favorite Nikola Jokic. If the Mavericks are still alive then, those are challenges they’ll gladly embrace, with or without Kleber.
Until then, they’ll miss him, but in terms of second-round matchups, it could have been worse.
“There’s nothing we can do,” Kidd said. “It’s on to the next guy.”
Find more Mavericks coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
Dallas, TX
A look at Dallas Cowboys’ 2026 NFL draft picks after Osa Odighizuwa, Solomon Thomas trades
Entering Wednesday, the Cowboys had seven selections in the upcoming draft and no Day 2 picks going into the first day of the NFL League Year.
By the end of the business day, the Cowboys gained an extra draft pick — and it will be on Day 2.
Dallas traded defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa to San Francisco for a third-round pick, No. 92 overall. The team also traded defensive tackle Solomon Thomas to the Tennessee Titans and swapped seventh-round selections, moving from No. 225 to No. 218.
Dallas now has eight draft picks, three in the Top 100 and two fifth-round selections that are compensatory.
The biggest thing was getting a Day 2 pick.
The Cowboys originally had picks No. 12 and No. 20 in the first round and wouldn’t pick again until No. 112 in the fourth round.
Dallas gave up Day 2 picks (second and third rounds) in trades for Quinnen Williams (New York Jets) and George Pickens (Pittsburgh Steelers) last year.
Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones was determined to get back into the second or third rounds and moving Odighizuwa, a 2021 third-round selection, to the 49ers to get back into the second day of the draft has proven vital.
In recent years, the Cowboys have struggled to get good value with their second-round picks.
Taking a gamble on players coming off injury or with troubled backgrounds was something the Cowboys wanted to do in the second round.
Jones said at the NFL scouting combine that the team was no longer planning on doing that, considering the issues the defense had last season.
The third round has proved a little more successful. Cooper Beebe (2023) is a starting center and DeMarvion Overshown (2023) at linebacker is a reliable performer. Injuries, however, have slowed Overshown’s development in his brief time in the NFL.
Dallas is hopeful last year’s Day 2 picks, Donovan Ezeiruaku (second round) and Shavon Revel (third round), emerge as starters in 2026.
Revel recovered from knee surgery and played in seven games. Ezeiruaku played 17 games with nine starts at defensive end. Ezeiruaku, who underwent offseason hip surgery, will move to outside linebacker in the new 3-4 defensive scheme.
Also, the Cowboys have the ability to use one of their two first-round picks to move up in the draft or package the third-rounder acquired in the Odighizuwa trade to gain more picks.
Cowboys 2026 draft picks
| Round | Overall |
|---|---|
| First round | No. 12 |
| First round | No. 20 |
| Third round | No. 92 |
| Fourth round | No. 112 |
| Fifth round | No. 152 |
| Fifth round | No. 177* |
| Fifth round | No. 180* |
| Seventh round | No. 218 |
| *Comp pick |
Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
The Dallas Cowboys were initially in the mix for Las Vegas Raiders superstar pass rusher Maxx Crosby ahead of NFL free agency, and were believed to be one of the finalists in trade talks. However, he was ultimately traded to the Baltimore Ravens for two first-round picks.
Now, the NFL world has been turned on its head with the Ravens deciding to pull out of the trade agreement with Las Vegas.
On Tuesday night, NFL insider Adam Schefter was among the experts discussing what went wrong between the Raiders and Ravens, revealing that Cowboys team physician Dr. Daniel Cooper, one of the premier knee specialists, played a role in the Ravens’ evaluation of Crosby.
Schefter discussed how Dr. Cooper was among the doctors who reviewed scans on Crosby’s knee, which ultimately spooked the Ravens and triggered the end of the deal.
“The Baltimore Ravens essentially failed him on their physical, and my understanding is there were multiple doctors that reviewed his MRI scans,” Schefter said. “There were doctors that examined him, including Dr. Daniel Cooper, the Dallas Cowboys doctor that performed surgery on Patrick Mahomes and Malik Nabers.
“Many teams and players rely on Dr. Cooper’s expertise, and Dr. Cooper was one of the doctors who reviewed the images where the Ravens then felt compelled to back out of this trade.”
It’s hard not to connect the dots that Dr. Cooper’s involvement in the medical review of Crosby led to the team deciding against re-engaging in trade discussions. Though that could change, currently, the Cowboys are expected to move forward with Pro Bowl EDGE Rashan Gary, who the team agreed to acquire from the Green Bay Packers for a 2027 fourth-round pick on the first day of legal tampering.
It will be interesting to continue monitoring the situation and its fallout, which has left the Raiders in a terrible position.
But, with the Raiders now forced to re-examine the money they committed to free agents on Wednesday evening, they may have to pull out of one of their own agreements, which could open the door for the Cowboys to reopen their pursuit of a linebacker like Nakobe Dean or Quay Walker.
The 2026 NFL calendar year officially begins on Wednesday, March 11, at 4:00 p.m. ET, so get your popcorn ready, because it’s going to be a wild ride.
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Dallas Cowboys Nation’s hopes of landing superstar pass rusher Maxx Crosby were dashed last weekend when it was announced that he was being traded to the Baltimore Ravens. However, less than 24 hours before the new year, the trade has fallen apart.
On Tuesday night, the Las Vegas Raiders announced that the Ravens have backed out of the trade.
“The Baltimore Ravens have backed out of our trade agreement for Maxx Crosby,” the statement read. “We will have no further comment at this time.”
The news sends a major ripple for the league, with the Crosby sweepstakes once again open. Before his trade to the Ravens, the Cowboys were considered one of the teams closely monitoring the situation and a team that made a legitimate offer for Crosby.
At this time, there is no word on why the trade between Las Vegas and Baltimore fell through. When the trade was first reported, the Raiders were set to receive a 2026 and 2027 first-round pick from the Ravens.
Now, his future is in limbo. Before he was traded to the Ravens, it was believed that the Cowboys, Chicago Bears, and Los Angeles Rams were the top candidates to land him. In fact, the Cowboys were “considered runner-ups” in the sweepstakes.
Dallas’ Original Trade Offer
According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, the Cowboys initially offered the No. 12 overall pick in the 2026 draft, a 2027 second-round pick, and an unnamed veteran player.
“Dallas kept a hard line throughout. The franchise wasn’t willing to part with two first-round picks, hoping its 12th pick in April’s draft, plus a future second-rounder, would be enough to entice Las Vegas. Dallas was also willing to package a veteran player to sweeten the deal, but Vegas wasn’t interested in that. The Raiders prioritized picks,” Fowler wrote.
Last season, Crosby recorded 73 total tackles, 28 tackles for a loss, 20 quarterback hits, 10 sacks, two forced fumbles, and an interception.
We’ll have to see if Dallas ends up being his new home, now that the team has a second chance to make something special happen, but there will be some serious competition. The 2026 NFL calendar year officially begins on Wednesday, March 11, at 4:00 p.m. ET.
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