When the Rolling Stones come to town near you, you want to see Mick Jagger.
The same applies to the Los Angeles Lakers. When they pay a visit to American Airlines Center, you want to see LeBron James.
Maverick fans will have no such luck.
In the big picture, this should be great news. The Mavericks will have a chance to take advantage of a competitor's misfortune. The best active player on the planet will miss his seventh game. The Lakers are 1-5 without him, including Sunday's loss at Minnesota.
And this is the only visit the Lakers will make to AAC this season, barring an unlikely playoff series.
Never mind that it without question helps the Mavericks, who need all the help they can get right now having lost 10 of their last 13 games.
While it's a downer for fans -- especially anybody who doled out big dollars on the ticket-resale market -- that James is out with a groin injury, the Mavericks will take it.
It's an important game for the Mavericks because at 18-21 they have fallen 2 1/2 games behind the eighth-place Lakers in the Western Conference.
Worse, they are only a half-game ahead of New Orleans, which occupies the next-to-last spot in the West.
Things can change fast in the West, but the Mavericks' downturn since they were 15-11 and sixth in the conference standings has left them facing a difficult climb to get back into the playoff conversation.
At least one Maverick makes no apologies for his feelings about James.
Rookie Luka Doncic waited outside the Lakers' locker room after the Mavericks' first visit to LA this season to get James' signed jersey.
"LeBron James, he was the guy I watched most growing up," Doncic said after Saturday's loss at Philadelphia. "It was nice to meet him and play against him."
James won't even be at AAC on Monday. He is not traveling with the team while he recovers from the groin injury.
What Mavericks fans who can appreciate the big picture need to focus on is that four of the next five games are at AAC and the Mavericks need to figure out a way to keep up their torrid home winning pace.
At 15-3, the Mavericks are better at home than anybody else in the Western Conference except Denver (16-3).
"At home, we're great," Doncic said. "But we got to figure out the road. For sure we can do it. We have great guys. We just got to figure out things."
Validation: Rookie Jalen Brunson was the 33rd pick (third in the second round), yet he continues to confirm coach Rick Carlisle's opinion that he should have been a first-round draftee.
The 6-3 point guard on Saturday went back to Philadelphia, where he was a hero when he helped lead Villanova to two national championships. He got a nice ovation when he came into the game. Then he threw down 13 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists on the Sixers in 26 minutes on the court, proving beyond any doubt that he's quite adept at running a basketball team.
"He [Brunson] was terrific all around," Carlisle said. "These homecoming games can be emotional and difficult and he looked like he was right at home. I was happy for him. He did a lot of very, very good things."
It shouldn't have been surprising that Brunson had a big night. When he's gotten a chance, he's usually responded. When he filled in for Dennis Smith Jr. for nine games as a starter while Smith had a wrist injury, Brunson averaged 10.2 points, 2.8 assists and 2.3 rebounds in about 27 minutes per game.
Speaking of meaningful: Ryan Broekhoff has seen only sporadic minutes through the first half of the season, but with several veterans getting a recovery night Saturday, he got a long run of playing time and made the most of it.
In his 22 minutes, he had 15 points and hit 3-of-5 from 3-point range. Known as a shooter, he had struggled with his shot in short minutes in the 16 games he'd played before Saturday. He had made just 6-of-22 3-pointers coming into the game.
"I came into this league wanting to play and compete," he said. "The coaching staff and players continued to show confidence in me and tonight, some of them went in, which was a good feeling."
Twitter: @ESefko