The Dallas Mavericks lost 129-119 to the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night, as Luka Doncic torched his former team for 35 points and 11 assists. The stars were out and about in this game, but the Mavericks’ point guard rotation was one of the bigger talking points of the night.
Jason Kidd rolled with undrafted rookie free agent Ryan Nembhard as the starting point guard, and he responded with a good outing of 17 points and 4 assists. The first guard off the bench was Brandon Williams, who also played well with 11 points. Nowhere to be seen was D’Angelo Russell, who ended up being a healthy scratch against his former team.
Russell wasn’t on the injury report for the game, and the only time he got noticed all night was when LeBron James made everyone on the Mavericks bench laugh except for Russell, who gave a blank stare.
LeBron had EVERYONE on the Mavs bench laughing except D’Lo 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/YUommu20G7
— BrickCenter (@BrickCenter_) November 29, 2025
This continues a roller coaster Mavericks tenure for Russell, who now has as many DNP-CDs as he does 30-point games this season. Russell probably thought he’d be the starting point guard when Nico Harrison signed him, but he’s only started 3 of the 17 games he’s played in this year, averaging 11.9 PPG and 4.8 APG on awful shooting splits of 39.2% from the floor and 25% from three.
The signing never really made sense to begin with. Yes, the Mavericks had a gaping hole at point guard because of the injury to Kyrie Irving, but Russell was clearly not a good basketball player anymore. He was coming off the worst season of his NBA career last year, but Harrison thought he was still good enough to contribute to a winning team. Now, he’s sitting behind two guards who went undrafted in their careers.
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What Will Mavericks’ Point Guard Rotation Look Like Moving Forward?
Ryan Nembhard received the starting nod against the Lakers on Friday night because of a strong second-half performance against the Miami Heat earlier in the week. He’s on a two-way contract, so he can only play so much, but with Kyrie Irving potentially coming back later in the year, the Mavs just need to buy time until then.
Brandon Williams has also shown to have the burst and playmaking needed to be a quality reserve guard in the NBA. Until Irving returns, Dallas’ point guard rotation should revolve around Nembhard and Williams when they’re healthy. D’Angelo Russell isn’t playable at this point in his career.
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