Nerlens Noel Gets First Shot at Former Team Tonight in Philly

The Dallas Mavericks face-off against the Philadelphia 76ers tonight in Philly. Nerlens Noel, one of the biggest trades before the trade deadline passed, will see his former teammates in front of his former crowd for the first time tonight.

The Dallas Mavericks are looking to snag another win from a below average team tonight as they travel to Philadelphia to play the 76ers. Dallas is coming off a great win over the Washington Wizards on Wednesday and would love to start another win streak.

Dallas is now 3.5 games out of the playoff race and only 4 losses away from guaranteeing a below .500 season for the first time since the Y2K scare. Although we probably won’t be seeing any beards from the guys this season, it is sad to see Dallas having as rough a year as they have so far.

Now, its not over yet. The Mavs still have 14 games left to make a run and most Mavericks fans would love to see that happen as this team is giving us some serious excitement, the likes of which we haven’t seen in awhile. Tonight, that excitement is going to be led by the newest long term player for the Mavericks, Nerlens Noel.

Noel has spent the entirety of his career up to this point with the Sixers where he dealt with irregular playing time, lack of stability, and little to no veteran leadership. Now as a Maverick, he gets to forget all of those things and focus on the future. For this reason, I expect Noel to have a big night tonight.

The 76ers currently sit at 24-43 on the season with little to no chance of finding the playoffs in the Eastern Conference. If it weren’t likely before Joel Embiid‘s season ending injury, it is all the more likely now.

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Expect for the Mavericks to come out ready to play against the Sixers. Players to watch may include J.J. Barea, Jarrod Uthoff, and Nerlens Noel of course. The game will start at 6:00 CT as Dallas looks for their 2nd straight and win 8 of the last 11.