PJ Washington Rumors

Coming off a 39–43 season—their second losing campaign in the last six—Dallas is now a popular pick to contend again. ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith recently said the Mavericks could be “favorites” with Flagg. Washington agrees. “I think we definitely have the pieces,” he said when asked if the Mavericks can make another Finals run. “We have the talent. It’s just about staying healthy and staying together. If we have a great training camp and a great beginning to the season, the sky’s the limit for us. Just being able to get that recognition and concentration—and everybody focused and having the same goal—I think we’ll be where we want to.” Source: https://rg.org/news/basketball/pj-washington-eyes-finals-run-with-mavericks-new-look-core

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Harrison recalled that during Flagg’s visit, six Mavericks players took him to dinner. PJ Washington was at his workout and gave his immediate approval. “There’s no jealousy. I think guys are excited to play with him,” Harrison said. “When I asked PJ, ‘Do you think you guys can play together?’ He said, ‘Oh yeah, we can play together.'”

Dallas Hoops Journal

MFFL Nation: Marc Stein says it’s the Dallas Mavericks preference not to trade Daniel Gafford or PJ Washington: “I’m not sitting here saying they won’t be traded… I just think their preference is they would love to find a way to not have to surrender either one. I just don’t know if that’s practical.”

x.com

PJ Washington: 👀👀👀

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A Bible has been sitting inside Dallas Mavericks forward P.J. Washington’s locker of late and he has been taking it everywhere for worship and daily guidance. With the challenges the Mavericks have faced this season due to devastating injuries and the aftermath of superstar Luka Doncic being traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, one verse in particular has helped Washington. “Proverbs 3:56. It was also my first tattoo [on my chest],” Washington told Andscape recently. “‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Always submit to him and he will leave your path straight.’ “Leave it all up to him. That’s all we can do. Keep praying, keep worshiping and keep believing. Just keep fighting.”

Andscape

Washington had been using the Bible app in recent years as his primary religious source. That changed when he found his old Bible at his home in Charlotte the night before the Mavericks lost to the Charlotte Hornets 110-105 on Jan. 20. Since then, the former Hornets star said he has been taking his Bible wherever he goes on the road with the Mavericks. He said he recently read Genesis and Romans and is reading motivational scriptures his Bible recommends based on his emotion at that time. It is not uncommon to see his Bible sitting in his locker on game day. “I just felt the need to just bring with me every day,” Washington told Andscape. “I know [God is] with me every step of the way, but he’s definitely here more now. Just being in the word more, I just feel like it just opens up everything just in life. I’m just so much happier and I just feel a lot better about myself…

Andscape

"Well, the beauty of Dallas is it is a passionate fan base," Harrison said. "For us to reach our goals, we need that fan base. And to be honest with you, every trade I've made since I've been here has not been regarded as a good trade, and so sometimes it takes time. When I traded for Kyrie, it was met with a lot of skepticism and it was graded as a terrible trade and you didn't see it right away, but eventually everyone agreed that that was a great trade. When I traded for [Gafford] and [Washington] again, it was like, 'Oh, he gave up way too much. These guys aren't going to help us.' Now that trade, you saw the evidence a lot sooner. So I think a lot of times trades take a little bit of time. "But our philosophy, like I said, going forward is defense wins championships and we're built on defense. And this trade cements us for that." Did Harrison not believe that the core of last season's Finals team, with Doncic as the centerpiece, could contend for a title? "I'll say this again: Defense wins championships," Harrison said.

ESPN

Law Murray: Anthony Davis, PJ Washington Jr, Dereck Lively II, Caleb Martin are all available per Mavericks Daniel Gafford and Jaden Hardy out Klay Thompson available after missing second half last night due to illness/blowout

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Mike Curtis: Final: #Mavs 120, #Bulls 119. Dallas claims control of 9th in the West & finishes their East Coast road trip with a 3-1 record. Klay Thompson scored a team-high 20 points. PJ Washington had 19 pts & 7 rebs in his return from an ankle sprain. Anthony Davis added 18 points, 7 rebs & 5 asts.

x.com

What have your conversations with Kyrie been like since he suffered his season-ending ACL tear? Anthony Davis: In basketball, man, s— happens. [It’s] Kind of been going around the league, not even just the league but in sports in general, freakish injuries. I saw [Irving’s] play. Once he stepped in, he went down for a split second. The first thing I thought was, ‘Please, don’t let it be his ACL.’ And I went to go check on him, and he said it right then and there. I was like, ‘[expletive] .’ I could just tell how it was. We went from that to Gaff [Gafford] with his knee, Ex [Exum] with his hand, and O-Max [Prosper] with his hand. Then you had be Will [Brandon Williams] with his hammy and D-Live [Lively] already had his foot, J-Hardy [Jaden Hardy] with his ankle. Like f— man, we can’t catch the break, Caleb [Martin], with everything he got going on. PJ’s [Washington’s] ankle. But credit to these guys who around the clock getting treatment and doing everything we can to get back on the floor to make this push. But in [Irving’s] instance, during that time, I let him have time to himself, his team, and everything. And then obviously, I was in the back with him, gave him some space, and then once he did everything he needed to do, he came back to the locker room where I was at. And his whole mood was just different as far as he was like, ‘Hey listen, ain’t nothing I can do about it.’ His mindset went from ‘f—’ to let’s get ready to start this rehab process and get back. So that’s the opposite, tough injury, but I know he’s had some pretty significant injuries, the kneecap and everything, and he came back the same Kai. So, it’s my job to hold the fort down the rest of the season and then go into next season with some of the offseason things that we’re pretty sure we’re going to do. Then, have him have his time to get back healthy, get back right, come in, and be Kyrie again.

Andscape

Christian Clark: Anthony Davis is out tonight. Mavericks plan was to sit him on the second night of a b2b. P.J. Washington (left ankle sprain) questionable. Brandon Williams (lower back tightness) questionable as well.

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Some Mavs fans' disdain for the front office following the Luka Doncic trade has been difficult to ignore, but Washington said the team is “sick and tired” of hearing it at games. “At the end of the day the trades happened, we understand we have a new team now,” Washington said. “All that ‘fire Nico’ stuff, we’re just sick and tired of hearing it. We just want to go out and play and the fans to support us.”

Clutch Points

Christian Clark: Mavericks players who are available today: Max Christie, Spencer Dinwiddie, Kessler Edwards, Naji Marshall,Dwight Powell, Klay Thompson, PJ Washington, Brandon Williams

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Brad Townsend: Kidd said one factor in Washington not playing today is that Sunday's game against Philadelphia is at noon, so it was unlikely he would have been able to play both, so decision was made to sit him again tonight.

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