When the Mavericks tip off their 45th season Thursday night against San Antonio, only 129 days will have passed since they walked off Boston’s parquet floor, amid floating Celtics-green confetti, as NBA runners-up.
Dallas’ core remains largely intact, including four of last season’s starters and NBA All-Rookie second-team Dereck Lively II. But along with excitement and anticipation among Mavericks, there’s an even more palpable feeling.
Mystery.
Exactly how good, potentially, could this Dallas team be? Where and how well will prize acquisition Klay Thompson fit, presumably in a three-guard starting lineup alongside Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving?
Because Doncic missed all four of Dallas’ preseason games, Thursday’s 6:30 p.m. clash against the rival Spurs and Victor Wembanyama will be the organized-game debut of the Mavericks’ new Big Three.
“We’ve gotten to know each other this last week, where I’m practicing,” Doncic said of four-time NBA champion Thompson. “It’s gonna be fun out there.”
If anything Mavericks coach Jason Kidd has fed into the mystery by declining to name a starting lineup, but a seemingly strong clue has emerged since Doncic’s return last week from a left calf contusion.
In practices the predominant starting group has been Doncic, Irving and Thompson on the perimeter, P.J. Washington at power forward and Daniel Gafford at center.
More than personnel, the biggest takeaway from those who have watched Mavericks scrimmages is attitude — a collective forceful mindset and disposition that has made practices intensely competitive.
Kidd said before training camp began Oct. 1 in Las Vegas that he wanted to see competition at every position. By all accounts, players have delivered.
“It’s not personal; it’s about getting us better,” Kidd said. “And that’s what I like about this group. So far, there’s a lot of trash talking; a lot of pushing one another, and it’s in a positive way.
“It’s ‘How do we make each other better?’ And it’s been great.”
The Spurs and 75-year-old, 29th-year coach Gregg Popovich will enter Thursday’s game with much the same perspective as Mavericks fans: Little about this Dallas team can be gleaned from the Doncic-less preseason.
Sure, there were glimpses in games, split-post offensive sets, increased weakside screens and off-the-ball movement, fewer isolation plays, but none of that was with Doncic on the court. His infusion into scrimmages supercharged everything.
“I think we could show you better than we can explain it,” Irving said. “I could go down all the pieces and stuff like that we have. But in practice it’s been fun just to feel the spacing out there.
“Luka being back out here, he’s started doing all his Luka Magic stuff. Guys have got to be ready to play off of that.”
In short, we can expect to see a hybrid of last season’s Mavericks offense and the near-constant motion that Thompson experienced at Golden State under coach Steve Kerr.
Naturally Dallas will continue to utilize Gafford and Lively to apply vertical pressure toward the rim. The Mavericks still want to create corner 3-pointers after leading the NBA last season, but they hope to be less one- or two-dimensional — as was the case when they bogged against the Celtics in the Finals.
“I think you’ll look at similar stuff that we’ve been successful with, with Luka and Kai,” Kidd said. “And we’ll look at some different wrinkles with Klay as we go forward — understanding Klay’s gravity of being able to move. We want to use that as a strength.”
Defense is another matter. Doncic and Irving aren’t known as defensive stalwarts and 34-year-old Thompson is five years removed from his most recent appearance on an NBA All-Defensive team.
The Mavericks’ hope is that Lively, Gafford, Washington, Maxi Kleber and newcomers Naji Marshall and Quentin Grimes will provide enough of a defensive presence to keep opponents from matching Dallas’ high-powered offense.
“We’re dialed in with the concepts on defense,” Irving said. “And then, offensively, we have all-world talent. We don’t necessarily worry about each other there. We just need to give each other space and be patient.”
It’s unrealistic to think the offense will be on full display in Thursday’s debut of the Big Three, but if the past week of practice is a barometer, fans will at least get strong glimpses of the Mavericks’ potential.
As will the Spurs.
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