Dallas Mavericks vs. San Antonio Spurs: 3 things to watch in the season opener

The Dallas Mavericks begin the 2024-2025 NBA season on Thursday evening against the San Antonio Spurs. Dallas will defend its Western Conference title and face the up-and-coming Victor Wembanyama and the courageous Spurs right from the start.

Let's get this straight: The Mavericks' injury report looks as clean as it has since the start of training camp. Coach Jason Kidd told reporters this week that he expects everyone except Dante Exum (who is recovering from wrist surgery) to be available against San Antonio. This means we will finally see Luka Doncic play, who missed the entire preseason due to a calf injury he sustained in the first few days of training camp.

Here's what we're looking for.

How much rust does Luka have to shake off?

Doncic injured his calf during an early training camp practice and subsequently missed the entire preseason. Doncic told reporters this week that his calf is healthy and that he feels “perfect.”

That's good news for Mavericks fans, but it will still be interesting to see what Doncic looks like early on against a Spurs team that probably won't make the playoffs but should be quite competitive in Wembanyama's second year. Last season, Doncic averaged a triple-double against the Spurs but shot poorly from the field — 43.4 percent overall and 26.8 percent from three. Wembanyama's defensive presence is certainly a factor.

Despite Doncic's poor shooting, the Mavericks have had success against Wembanyama and the Spurs in recent history, so this will be an interesting game to see how ready Doncic is for the season. I would expect nothing less than Doncic's usual dominance, but the long layoff opens the door for this game to potentially be strange for the Mavericks in places. We won't know until there's a clue, but Doncic should be good to go.

Klay Thompson needs to allay fears

Klay Thompson should be completely fine. Since his horrific lower leg injuries three years ago, he has hit 39 percent on nearly 10 three-point attempts per game. After his injury, Thompson is still one of the most accurate and high-volume shooters in the NBA. Yes, some parts of his game have deteriorated since the injuries, but his shooting shouldn't be on that list of concerns.

I say “should” because for some reason there is some unrest surrounding the Mavericks’ new acquisition. My guess is that it has to do with the fact that fans and media haven't seen Thompson have a good game in six months – in Klay's last four basketball games (the Mavericks' three preseason games and the Mavericks' play-in loss). Warriors vs. the Kings in 2019). April) Thompson shot a total of 7 of 39 from the field. That's not great!

There is also a long time between good games, not in terms of the games played, mind you, but actually, you know. Time. April to October is six months, and six months is long enough to produce perceptions in the brain of a basketball observer. Despite some online consternation of that nature this summer, Thompson is decidedly not quite ready (at least when it comes to shooting the ball), but it's harder to dispel those doubts when there are no games coming up or the games you've played went in, you shot badly. Thompson probably needed at least one good preseason game to allay Mavericks fans' worst fears, and unfortunately, Thompson scored 7 of 29 goals this preseason, despite some decent passes and the effects of his gravity on the floor, which he took full advantage of brought into effect.

Thompson will be fine, but a good game would help calm the discourse a bit.

So what does that actually look like?

It's good that the Mavericks are starting the season relatively healthy, but preseason injuries have obscured what lineup and rotation Jason Kidd wants to play with.

With Doncic missing every game, Kyrie Irving, Thompson and PJ Washington all missing at least one, it meant the Mavericks never really had a dress rehearsal-style preseason game. We can only draw conclusions and make assumptions about what the Mavericks' starting lineup and regular rotation will look like.

For example, is Dereck Lively the starter? Kidd said Lively would open training camp as the starter, but said he and Gafford would start this season even if both were healthy. Lively also came on as a substitute in a preseason game. While Lively is assumed to be the starter, Kidd may move back to Gafford.

Additionally, the other starters are mostly Doncic, Irving, Thompson and Washington. The next questions will revolve around the bank and the pecking order there. Exum's injury opens the door for more minutes for Jaden Hardy and Spencer Dinwiddie, but who will be the first of those two on the bench for Kidd? How do Naji Marshall and Quintin Grimes fit in? Thursday's game won't answer all of those questions, as it's a long season and Kidd is known for experimenting early. It'll just be interesting to see how these decisions play out in a real game that actually matters. For a team that feels as complete as the Mavericks, there are certainly a lot of questions that still need to be answered.

Here's how to watch

Fear not Mavericks fans, because it's pretty simple here: the game starts at 6:30 p.m. CST and will be broadcast on TNT, or you can watch it via the Max app.