With just one day until the Dallas Mavericks officially take the court in an important game, everything that happened in Dallas over the past summer, training camp, and preseason was shaping this Mavericks team to avenge their loss in last season’s NBA Finals.
Dallas’ first game of the season will be against the San Antonio Spurs, which will mark Victor Wimpanyama’s first game of his second season as well. It goes without saying that the atmosphere will be electric inside the American Airlines Center on Thursday night, as there are plenty of compelling narratives to follow in the competition.
There will be plenty of players making their debuts with the Mavericks as well, such as Klay Thompson, Najee Marshall, and Quentin Grimes. With the Mavericks replacing several key pieces from last year’s lineup, it will likely take some time for the Mavericks to fully gel with each other before this team reaches its true potential, and coach Jason Kidd will need to tweak the rotation until it reaches its peak.
However, one thing the Mavericks won’t have to worry about Thursday night is their health, as the Mavericks are expected to be healthy with the exception of guard Dante Exum, who will be out with a wrist injury.
While this may not seem like a significant takeaway given that this is the start of the regular season, the Mavericks being healthy gives them a nice advantage against a lot of other Western Conference opponents who aren’t as fortunate at this point in the season.
Just within the Southwest Division, there are a fair number of players who are set to miss their first regular season appearance and perhaps longer in some cases. For example, the Spurs will be without young goalkeeper Devin Vassell when they face Dallas tomorrow, with Vassell expected to miss at least a week with a foot injury.
The same can be said for newly extended New Orleans Pelicans forward Trey Murphy III, who is also set to miss the start of the season with a hamstring injury. After an injury-riddled season last year, Dallas’ other rival in the Memphis Grizzlies aren’t quite healthy to start the season, as they will be without Jaren Jackson Jr., Vince Williams, JJ Jackson II, and Luke Kennard when they join the team. They begin their regular season tonight.
Some of the non-division opponents in the Western Conference that Dallas played against last season in the playoffs have already had their fair share of encounters with the injury bug as well. The Oklahoma City Thunder will be without new free agent center Isaiah Hartenstein to start the season, and Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard is expected to miss an indefinite amount of time with a sore knee to start the season.
The injury landscape in the Western Conference is by no means so difficult that the Mavericks will have an easy path to a top-four seed in the West or a great playoff run, as it’s too early to say how things will go this regular season anyway. However, holding other teams back to start the season is something the Mavericks could clearly benefit from.
Dallas’ lone injured player in Exum isn’t a significant part of Dallas’ rotation when healthy, though he’s certainly a luxury, while some other teams in the conference are missing stars or high-profile players early in the season. Season 2024-25. There is a clear chance for the Mavericks to pick up some wins early in the season because of this, but only time will tell if that ultimately is the case.
