Dallas @ San Antonio preview
Frost Bank Center
Last Meeting ( Apr 9, 2023 ) San Antonio 138, Dallas 117
The San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks, two of the offseason's most talked-about teams, will get their respective campaigns started when they square off on Wednesday in the newly named Frost Bank Center in the Alamo City.
Neither team made the postseason in 2022-23, and both carry aspirations for a return to the playoffs, albeit for decidedly different reasons.
San Antonio went 22-60 last season -- the third-worst showing in franchise history -- and finished tied for the worst record in the Western Conference. That helped earn the Spurs the top pick in the NBA draft and they snatched otherworldly forward Victor Wembanyama, the 7-foot-4 French teenager considered to be the league's top prospect since LeBron James.
Wembanyama has been uber-impressive in the preseason, showing his knack for shooting, blocking shots and handling the ball with aplomb. He will be among the Spurs' starting five that will also feature former lottery picks Devin Vassell and Jeremy Sochan at guard and Zach Collins at center as well as forward Keldon Johnson, who led the team in scoring at 22 points per game last season.
Johnson enters his fifth campaign as San Antonio longest-tenured player.
Collins said he's been happy and encouraged with the team's chemistry in the preseason. "Everybody is growing up a little bit," he said. "(We all) took this summer really seriously. We all got a lot better and I think we made all the right steps to do that."
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who enters his 28th season on the bench as the league's all-time winningest coach, expects his team to win more this season after primarily focusing on developing young players since San Antonio's last real chance to play in the postseason in 2020.
"Development is great, and all those guys needed it," Popovich said. "This year one of the important factors to enhance that is winning."
Dallas, meanwhile, looks to find the correct formula to allow star guards Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving to thrive. The duo played in just 16 games together after Irving was traded to the Mavericks on Feb. 6.
"We're here to win basketball games, and that will be the true success and true rankings at the end of the season," Irving said. "And that's where our focus should be."
Doncic and Irving will be joined by forward Grant Williams, who was acquired from Boston in July, in the starting lineup but the other two spots are still to be decided. Rookie Dereck Lively II has the inside track to start at center, with the shooting forward spot a battle between Josh Green, Derrick Jones Jr. and Dante Exum.
Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said he can't ask for anything more from his team than what they've given him in the runup to the season.
"They have competed and they've supported one another, which is kind of cool," Kidd said. "This is a different team than here in the first year that I was here (in 2021-22), and then last year -- this group really enjoys one another on and off the floor."
Doncic's status for Wednesday's game is still up in the air as he continues to recover from what has been listed as a mild left calf strain.
However, Doncic practiced Monday, with Kidd telling reporters afterward that "the plan is for him to practice again tomorrow, and we'll see how he feels."
--Field Level Media