Apr. 9—DALLAS — In the end, the Dallas Mavericks simply wanted it more.

The Spurs and Mavs entered Sunday’s season finale at American Airlines Center both with more reason to lose than win.

Dallas had even more incentive. So it came as no surprise when the shorthanded Spurs lambasted the shorthanded Mavericks 138-117 to put a victorious capstone on an otherwise challenging season.

Sandro Mamukelashvili led the Spurs with 23 points and 11 rebounds, while rookie Dominick Barlow contributed a monster 21 points and 19 rebounds off the bench.

The Spurs played with nine players out. Dallas played with six, including stars Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving.

Coming into the day, the Mavericks were in desperate need of a loss to make sure they ended with the 10th-worst record in the league. If the Mavericks’ pick in the June draft lands outside the top 10, they owe it to New York as part of the 2019 Kristaps Porzingis trade.

A win could have paved the way for them to lose their draft pick altogether.

No worries. After the first quarter, the Spurs — boasting lineups that seemed pulled out of a hat, if not a Scrabble box — led 42-14.

It set a club record for the largest lead after the first quarter in team history.

Dallas battled back a bit under the duo of Jaden Hardy and Theo Pinson.

Hardy finished with 25 points, while Theo Pinson — in his first career start — logged 23 points, 12 assists and 13 rebounds for a triple-double.

His team lost by 30, signaling what kind of afternoon it was in Dallas.

Technically, the Spurs could have used a loss as well. When Houston winning earlier in the day against Washington, the Rockets improved to 22-60.

Had the Spurs found a way to pull defeat from the jaws of victory in Dallas, they would have finished all alone with the NBA’s second-worst record.

Instead, the Spurs had to settle for a tie with the Rockets, with lottery odds decided with random drawing later this spring.

In the end, it turns out Dallas did not need to lose after all.

With Chicago eventually blowing out Memphis, it kept Dallas from being able to tie with the Bulls for the 11th-worst record.

Here are three takeaways from the final game of a trying season for the Spurs: 1. Don’t read too much into the box score numbers The Spurs had several powerhouse performances Sunday. The Mavericks had a no-namer post a triple-double.

That’s the way it was in what amounted to a glorified G League contest.

NBA games last 48 minutes, and somebody has to put up numbers.

Yes, it’s nice that Mamukelashvili and Barlow put up double-doubles, as did Julian Champagnie (16 points, 10 rebounds).

It’s great for Pinson to add his name to the list of all-time Mavericks to log a triple-double.

Let them have that moment. It won’t mean much heading into next season.

2. Now the lottery fun begins The next big date on the Spurs’ calendar is May 16. That’s when the NBA holds its annual draft lottery, which could light the Spurs’ path back to relevance — or, possibly not.

That is when the Spurs will learn if they earn the right to add a certain franchise-making Frenchman to the fold in June.

First, however, comes the aforementioned drawing with Houston, which will determine which of the two teams has the second-worst lottery odds and which has the third-worst.

Detroit did good work in sealing its fate as the NBA’s worst team at 17-65.

What it means: Detroit, Houston and the Spurs have matching odds to finish with the No. 1 pick (14 percent), the No. 2 pick (13.4 percent), the No. 3 pick (12.7 percent) and the No. 4 pick (12 percent).

The difference between finishing 28th and 29th is in how far the Spurs might fall: With the second-best odds, the Spurs could fall as fall as far as sixth. With the third-best, they could fall as far as seventh.

As Spurs coach Gregg Popovich remarked before Sunday’s game, the floor doesn’t matter that much.

“When’s the last time you knew who’s the fourth through 15th pick that’s going to make it in the league?” Popovich said.

3. Speaking of Popovich, was this his swan song?

The best answer is, nobody knows but Popovich. The best guess is, probably not.

Popovich was asked before the game if he planned on returning for a 28th season on the Spurs’ bench.

He was in no mood to address the future, exactly.

“I don’t think about future, past, legacy — I think about today,” Popovich said. “What kind of fun I’m going to have this summer, in addition to doing the normal — Las Vegas Summer League, the draft, (lottery) ping-pong balls, that kind of stuff.

“Travel, restaurants, walking through cities like New York — and you’re gonna ask me about whether I should retire?”

To be fair, the 74-year-old Popovich has been asked about his future at the end of the season for 10 years straight now.

He is long past weary of the intimation that maybe he should call it a career.

That doesn’t necessarily mean he isn’t going to decide this summer that he has had enough, of course.

There have been clues over the past few days, however, the Popovich is still very much engaged in the Spurs for the near term.

The fact that he already thinking about roster decisions and summer player development and free agency and the draft provides some easy-to-read tea leaves.