Mavericks making the same moves post-Doncic: time to wave the Flagg

The NBA isn’t leaving Mexico behind. As the league continues its international expansion, it will stage a regular season game at Arena CDMX for the fourth straight year. This partnership could have run uninterrupted for more than a decade, but was temporarily paused during the COVID-19 pandemic. The featured team for the 11th edition of the NBA Mexico City Games will be the Dallas Mavericks, AS USA has confirmed – marking the 15th official NBA regular season game ever held in Mexico.

Mexico still calling for Mavericks

The Mavs are frequent visitors to the Mexican capital. This will be their fourth official game in CDMX, following appearances in 1997, 2017 and 2019. In that first outing, they lost 108–106 to the Houston Rockets in a clash that pitted Charles Barkley against Michael Finley at the Palacio de los Deportes. They didn’t return for two decades – by then, Dirk Nowitzki was nearing the twilight of his career, and he dropped 18 points in a win over Devin Booker’s Phoenix Suns. Booker led all scorers with 39 that night at Arena CDMX. Almost three years passed before the franchise, then still owned by Mark Cuban, came back to Azcapotzalco. With Luka Dončić pulling the strings, they beat the Detroit Pistons – led by Derrick Rose and Blake Griffin – 122–111, in front of a crowd that erupted after Dončić notched a triple-double (41 points, 11 rebounds, 12 assists).

This fourth trip might serve as the first opportunity for Latin American fans to see the top pick of the 2025 NBA Draft. The Global Games always bring a particular draw. In 2024, Jaime Jáquez Jr. became the first Mexican-born player to appear in a regular season game in the country. In 2017 and 2019, the Mavericks brought marquee names like Nowitzki and Dončić – a former MVP and Rookie of the Year, respectively. In 2014, the Houston Rockets arrived with James Harden and Dwight Howard, just a year after the notorious power outage forced the cancellation of a Spurs-Timberwolves game at the same venue. This year, the attraction will be Cooper Flagg, the 18-year-old Duke phenom and one of the most anticipated prospects in years. Slated to be the top selection in the upcoming draft on June 25 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Flagg now represents the future of the Mavericks – a franchise still recovering from the chaotic and controversial trade that sent Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers in February 2025.

The NBA will officially announce the Mexico City game on Tuesday, June 10, during a private event in the capital. That weekend, for the second year running, the league will also open its NBA House – an interactive fan zone designed for Mexican basketball lovers. The Mavericks have already begun coordinating logistics with Arena CDMX and Capitanes, the local G League team that uses the venue, to plan their next visit. According to MundoBskt, their opponent will likely be the Detroit Pistons, who also have Mexican game history and will arrive boasting star power of their own: Cade Cunningham (2025 All-Star and 2021 No 1 pick), Ausar Thompson (fifth overall in 2023), and German standout Dennis Schröder.

Every NBA regular season game ever played in Mexico

Mexico remains a priority market for the NBA. A power failure in 2013 nearly severed ties between the league and the country, but the bond has only grown stronger since. Between 2014 and 2019, the NBA regularly returned to Mexico. For four straight seasons (2016–17 through 2019–20), they even scheduled two official games per campaign at Arena CDMX. That streak ended with the pandemic. The NBA skipped two years and didn’t resume its Global Games until 2022. Since then, there’s been one game per season in Azcapotzalco – but the doubleheaders from 2017–2019 have yet to return.

Full list of NBA regular season games in Mexico:

• Rockets 108–106 Mavericks | Dec 7, 1997
• Rockets 113–101 Timberwolves | Nov 12, 2014
• Celtics 114–97 Kings | Dec 3, 2015
• Mavericks 113–108 Suns | Jan 12, 2017
• Spurs 105–108 Suns | Jan 14, 2017
• Thunder 95–100 Nets | Dec 7, 2017
• Heat 101–89 Nets | Dec 9, 2017
• Bulls 91–97 Magic | Dec 13, 2018
• Jazz 89–96 Magic | Dec 15, 2018
• Mavericks 122–111 Pistons | Dec 12, 2019
• Spurs 121–119 Suns | Dec 14, 2019
• Heat 111–101 Spurs | Dec 17, 2022
• Magic 119–120 Hawks | Nov 9, 2023
• Heat 118–98 Wizards | Nov 2, 2024

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