Sports
Spurs pursue back-to-back wins over swooning Mavericks
Feb 5, 2026; Dallas, Texas, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) attempts a free throw during the second half against the Dallas Mavericks at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images The San Antonio Spurs stood pat at the trade deadline and look to continue to show why they are happy with the progress they’ve made as they host the swooning Dallas Mavericks on Saturday in the second of a home-and-home miniseries between the teams.
The Spurs took the first game 135-123 in Dallas on Thursday as Victor Wembanyama dominated with 29 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and three blocked shots, with one swat coming in the final minutes when the Mavericks were making a last-gasp push.
“We had some possessions where I thought we had good multiple efforts but our initial game plan execution or physicality wasn’t there,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “We did a really good job, especially at the end, of shoring it up a little bit more than we were throughout the game.”
Harrison Barnes had 19 points for the Spurs, including a pair of free throws in the deciding stretch. Stephon Castle hit for 18 points, De’Aaron Fox tallied 17, Julian Champagnie added 14 and Keldon Johnson and Devin Vassell had 12 each as San Antonio won its third straight game.
“We stayed pretty solid on defense,” Wembanyama said. “Everything could have been better. We went back to what we know offensively, because at some point, we’re just doing whatever.”
With 35 wins, the Spurs have already exceeded their total from last season.
Dallas dropped its sixth straight game despite a season-high 32 points from Naji Marshall and 32 from 19-year-old rookie Cooper Flagg.
Flagg became the youngest player in NBA history to record four consecutive 30-point games. He is the first rookie since Michael Jordan in 1985 with four consecutive 30-point, five-rebound games.
“I think me and Naji have played a lot of minutes together this year and have been together for a long time,” Flagg said. “It’s just a relationship we built out there. We trust each other. Part of it is he plays the right way. I play the right way. So, it’s kind of easy to gel together and mesh with other groups out there.”
Max Christie added 20 points and Daniel Gafford scored 16 with 10 boards for the Mavericks in the loss. Dallas had just 10 players suited up for Thursday’s game as they await the four reinforcements obtained from the Washington Wizards in Wednesday’s Anthony Davis trade.
“There’s a lot to learn,” Flagg said about the loss to the Spurs. “We’ll watch the film, we’ll look at what worked and what didn’t. But I think there’s a lot to clean up.”
Before Flagg’s performance on Thursday, Jalen Green was the most recent rookie to score at least 30 points in four straight games, accomplishing that feat during the 2021-22 season when he collected five in a row while playing for Houston.
“Cooper’s had an incredible start to his NBA career,” Dallas coach Jason Kidd said. “He’s learning to play the game at a high level and accepted all the challenges. We’ve got a long runway with him and some of the other players in that locker room.”
Saturday’s contest is the first of a six-game road trip for the Mavericks that will be split by the All-Star break.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Why the Anthony Davis Trade to Washington Wizards Feels Like a Dead End
According to reports, former Dallas Mavericks big man Anthony Davis wasn’t thrilled about being traded to the Washington Wizards.
Davis claims these reports were “overblown,” which comes off as not being completely false, but maybe a bit exaggerated. Regardless, what’s left of the 32-year-old will be forced to report to the Wizards, one of the worst NBA teams over the last decade.
Already, reports are surfacing that the Wizards will plan on shutting down Davis for the remainder of the season. During his one year in Dallas, Davis only played 29 total games. He’s dealing with a hand injury and a groin injury and hasn’t suited up since early January.
The Mavericks severed ties with Davis after just one year following the catastrophic failure that was the Luka Doncic trade. Moving on from the injury-prone center allows the Mavericks to build around No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg, who has looked the part during his rookie season.
Superstar point guard Kyrie Irving has yet to make his season debut for the Mavericks after tearing his ACL in late March of last season.
But Davis was the real loser of this trade.
His agent, Rich Paul, publicly and privately demanded that the Mavericks would find a new home for him prior to Thursday’s NBA trade deadline.
In a blockbuster deal, Davis wound up on the Wizards, who still have not won 15 games this season and currently find themselves as the No. 13 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Washington’s first-round draft pick is protected as long as they find themselves within the top eight selections. By sidelining Davis, the Wizards could continue to let their tank roll on, improving their probability of drafting one of college basketball’s biggest stars this offseason.
After this season, Davis is owed two very large sums of money on his deal with the Wizards that should keep him in Washington over the next two seasons. By shutting down Davis, the Wizards are planning for the long term, where they’ll hope he can get healthy and contribute on a young roster next season.
The Wizards are awful, but they do have a little bit of young talent.
They’ve invested draft picks into Alex Sarr, who could pair nicely with Davis in Washington’s front court next season. Bub Carrington and Bilal Coulibaly are one of the worst backcourt duos in the league, but individually, they are decent role players. Kyshawn George and Shariffe Cooper are both capable of surprises, also.
Washington will need to keep their fingers crossed that their ping pong ball strikes gold in the NBA Draft Lottery. Adding Darryn Peterson or AJ Dybantsa to the young core will help the Wizards grow quickly.
The Wizards will also keep their fingers crossed that Davis can give them any production. In the last decade, David played in over 60 games just once, appearing in 76 games with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2023. If the Wizards can get that All-Star version of Davis, this trade looks like a steal.
But even with Davis healthy, how will the Wizards be much better unless they land Peterson or Dybantsa?
Davis should be thanking LeBron James for that championship they won together in the NBA bubble. Now on the most irrelevant team in the NBA, Davis will spend the rest of the regular season in the shadows instead of contending for more titles.
Sports
Wizards' Anthony Davis expected to sit out rest of season
Jan 6, 2026; Sacramento, California, USA; Dallas Mavericks forward Anthony Davis (3) stands on the court before the start of the game against the Sacramento Kings at the Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images Newly acquired Anthony Davis is not expected to make his debut with the Washington Wizards until the 2026-27 season, NBA TV reported.
Davis, 32, has ligament damage in his left hand as well as a groin injury. The Wizards, who have a 14-36 record and are nine games out of the final play-in spot in the Eastern Conference, reportedly would prefer giving Davis the time off to heal.
He was acquired from the Dallas Mavericks at the trade deadline on Thursday as part of a nine-player, three-team deal that also involved multiple draft picks.
Davis has not played since Jan. 8, when he was injured in a loss to the Utah Jazz.
He appeared in just 20 games this season with Dallas and averaged 20.4 points, 11.1 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.7 blocks.
A 10-time All-Star, Davis was the centerpiece of the trade last February that sent Dallas star Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. After his arrival with the Mavericks, Davis played only nine games because of injuries.
The Wizards also are waiting for the debut of Trae Young, the four-time All-Star guard they acquired from the Atlanta Hawks in a trade on Jan. 9. He has yet to play because of a right knee MCL sprain and a bruised right quad.
–Field Level Media
Sports
IOC: Sports leaders reach consensus on new gender policy
Kirsty Coventry, president of the International Olympic Committee, speaks at the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics on Friday in Milan. MILAN — Global sports leaders have reached consensus on a new set of eligibility criteria for transgender athletes, with the new policy expected to be announced within the first half of this year, the International Olympic Committee said Saturday.
It would be the first uniform policy adopted by the IOC and international sports federations, applying to major events in dozens of sports, including the Games and world championships. Currently, federations have their own rules which can vary.
Details of the new policy are unclear but it is expected to severely restrict the participation of transgender athletes who compete in women’s categories if they have undergone full male puberty before any subsequent medical transition.
The IOC, under its first female president, Kirsty Coventry, took the lead in June, opting for a uniform approach.
“Protecting the female category is one of the key reforms she wants to bring in,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams told a news conference at the Milan-Cortina Winter Games on Saturday.
“I would say it is going to happen shortly, within the next few months.”
“It has been out to consultation phase and we had the ‘pause and reflect’ (period) on it,” Adams said. “Generally speaking there is consensus within the sporting movement. I think you will have a new policy in the first half of this year. Don’t hold me to it, but that is roughly the timescale.”
In September, Coventry set up the “Protection of the Female Category” working group, made up of experts as well as representatives of international federations, to look into how best to protect the female category in sports.
Before Coventry’s decision, the IOC had balked at any universal rule on transgender participation for the Games, instructing international federations in 2021 to come up with their own guidelines. Under current rules, still in force, transgender athletes are eligible to take part in the Olympics once cleared by their respective federations.
Only a handful of openly transgender athletes have taken part in the Games. New Zealand’s Laurel Hubbard became the first openly transgender athlete to compete in a different gender category to that assigned at birth when the weightlifter took part in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Currently, for example, World Aquatics allows transgender athletes who have transitioned before the age of 12, to compete. World Rugby bans all transgender athletes from elite-level competitions.
President Donald Trump has banned transgender athletes from competing in school, college and pro events in the female category in the United States, as Los Angeles prepares to host the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Trump, who signed the “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” order in February, has said he would not allow transgender athletes to compete at the LA Games.
–Reuters, special to Field Level Media
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