Are Dinwiddie and Brown set to be All-Stars?

The NBA is investigating the Brooklyn Nets to see if they violated player availability rules in their game against the Milwaukee Bucks on December 27. The Nets rested several players, and pulled others after limited playing time in the 144-122 loss to the Bucks.

Nicolas Claxton, Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith and Cameron Johnson all sat out the game. Mikal Bridges, Royce O’Neale and Cam Thomas were all pulled after the first quarter.

Following the game, Bridges expressed disappointment in the decision. Bridges said he would prefer to play when he’s able to.

Before the game, Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn admitted that Bridges only played because of his consecutive games played streak. When told of those comments, Bridges said: “I guess for their purposes is why. But I’m healthy, so I [don’t] see why I wouldn’t play.”

Jacque Vaughn said it was an executive decision to rest players.

“I’ve got to think short term and long term and make executive decisions for the betterment of the group,” Vaughn said. “It’s unfortunate tonight that they just got to the point where we’re putting them in harm’s way by putting them out there tonight.”

The Dallas Mavericks want to evaluate their draft options at No. 10 before they commit to trading away the pick, sources tell Marc Stein. Dallas retained their selection when no teams jumped ahead of them in the lottery as their pick was top-10 protected to the New York Knicks.

Rival front offices, however, continue to expect the Mavericks to eventually trade the pick with a combination of Tim Hardaway Jr., Davis Bertans and JaVale McGee in hopes of adding a player that can help them immediately.

The Mavericks enter an offseason in which they hope to re-sign Kyrie Irving and improve their roster around Luka Doncic after missing the playoffs.