Flagg's status is the biggest unknown here. Head coach Dusty May called it left shoulder soreness and said Flagg will be evaluated in the next couple of days, which doesn't settle anything for Saturday. That matters because Flagg looked like the best player on the floor in both games. He scored 32 in the opener, the most ever by a teenager in a season opener, and against Indiana he had 14 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists in 17 minutes before the foul.
The list goes well past Flagg. Lively (foot) is out. Aldama (knee), Caleb Martin (thumb), Jett Howard (calf) and Tarik Biberovic (heel) all missed Indiana and are day-to-day. A team that's already thin up front now has to deal with Wembanyama. San Antonio has its own gap, with Tobias Harris (calf) out for Friday's Rockets game and Jayden Quaintance still not cleared for basketball activities, but the Spurs' problems are about depth. Dallas could be missing most of its rotation.
The schedule hurts Dallas too. Both teams played Friday night, so this is a back-to-back for each. The Spurs only have to make the short trip up from Austin. The Mavericks have to fly home from Indianapolis after a game that ended with a flagrant foul, a double technical and a scuffle. Rest won't be even at the American Airlines Center.
Tipoff is 7:00 PM CT. San Antonio's 2 losses add up to 16 points, and both teams have only played 2 games, so this is early for a Texas game to mean much. Still, the Spurs badly need a first win, and Dallas has to show it can compete without its frontcourt and maybe without its best player.