The Dallas Mavericks play the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. inside State Farm Arena.
The Dallas Mavericks are near full availability for the first time in what feels like weeks.
Dallas' last loss, its seventh in a row on Sunday to the Toronto Raptors, had the silver lining of every player being available to play, except, of course, for the two that have already been ruled out for the season in Dereck Lively II (foot) and Kyrie Irving (knee).
With the injury report finally clean, head coach Jason Kidd is focused on building team chemistry, especially with teenage star Cooper Flagg molding into his role as the go-to force.
"Being healthy is a good thing," Kidd said to the media this week. "To be able to be healthy, hopefully come out of this healthy, so that we can go to Atlanta and keep learning each other."
The notable returners who are now off the injury report are Flagg, who dealt with a midfoot sprain, Marvin Bagley III (neck sprain), Brandon Williams (quad contusion), Daniel Gafford (ankle management) and P.J. Washington (ankle sprain).
At stage of the season, nearly every player has faced bumps and bruises and appeared at least once on the injury report.
With the losing streak growing, and the Mavs (21-43) having dropped 17 of their last 19 games overall, the long road trip continues Tuesday at the Atlanta Hawks, who are two games above .500 at 33-31.
The Mavericks announced that every player is available, sans the two-way players who need monitoring of how many NBA games they exhaust over the course of the season.
Not only is this another opportunity for the entire team to play with one another, it's a chance for Kidd to test out what lineups work best.
"We haven’t played that many games together," Flagg said. "We’re still figuring out that continuity. It would definitely help to have some consistent lineups out there."
Kidd added: "We got to look at some different combinations here as we go forward, maybe looking at the starting group, maybe some different combinations in the first quarter as we get to Atlanta."
This health and stamina will be a key factor in this matchup with Atlanta. The Hawks are second in the NBA in pace (averaging 102 possessions per 48 minutes), and put up the second-most field goal attempts (and makes) per game.
The Mavs play the fifth of their six-game road stretch at 6:30 p.m. CST at State Farm Arena.
