After a pair of embarrassing losses against the San Antonio Spurs and the Washington Wizards, the Dallas Mavericks (1-2) finally found some footing Sunday night, taking their first win of the season off a disjointed Toronto Raptors team. Now, they face their first real challenge of the year: the reigning NBA champions, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and his Oklahoma City Thunder (3-0).
Without a doubt, the Thunder are arriving red-hot in Dallas. Oklahoma City has started the season 3-0, winning their first
two games in double overtime and comfortably defeating the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday, 117-100. Gilgeous-Alexander put up MVP-level performances in all three of these showings, most notably racking up a 55-8-5 stat line on Thursday. Meanwhile, the Mavericks will be playing their second game of a back-to-back, still working out the kinks of an offense that has started slower than anyone would have expected.
Mavericks Daniel Gafford and Brandon Williams missed Sunday night’s game against the Toronto Raptors, the former due to a right ankle sprain and the latter for personal reasons. On the other end of the court, the Thunder are expected to miss a whole slate of players – most notably Jalen Williams to a wrist injury, Isaiah Joe to a knee injury, and Alex Caruso to concussion protocol. Chet Holmgren, too, is currently listed as questionable due to a lingering back injury.
Here are three things to watch for in the Mavericks’ first matchup against the rolling Oklahoma City Thunder.
How the Mavericks score their points
Going into this season, one of the largest-looming questions for the Dallas Mavericks was who would score the ball, and how. The team’s home-opener against the San Antonio Spurs did little to answer this question: Anthony Davis and Dereck Lively II struggled to dominate the paint against the long arms of Victor Wembanyama, and sloppy play overall led to foul trouble and poor execution. Friday’s disaster against the Washington Wizards wasn’t much help, either, with just about everyone looking sluggish and disoriented against a young Washington Wizards defense.
Now, with a decisive win against Toronto, fans finally have a blueprint for the year to come – or, at least, the beginnings of one. D’Angelo Russell looked solid as a score-first ball-handler, playing well in transition and collapsing the defense effectively. Anthony Davis held strong at the five, limiting himself to only a couple long twos. Max Christie continued to reliably knock down threes, going 3/5 beyond the arc. Cooper Flagg was maybe the brightest spot of all: not only did he grab 22 points of his own against the Raptors, but he looked comfortable facilitating for his teammates, posting four nice assists including a beautiful lob to Lively for a rim-rocking dunk.
Tonight, all of this progress will be put under a microscope. The Thunder’s stifling wing defenders will give shooters little room to work, and Isaiah Hartenstein and Chet Holmgren will likely clog up the paint for the Mavericks’ big men. And, perhaps most importantly, the Thunder will throw everything they have at the 18-year-old Flagg, in hopes of giving him more than he can handle as a facilitator and a scorer. How this Mavericks offense performs in the face of these challenges will paint a very clear picture of how this year will go – either they’ll be able to grind out points against active, gritty defenses, or Sunday night’s game was a mirage, and they’ll return to the claggy, uninspired mess fans saw to start the season.
How the Mavericks move and protect the ball
On Thursday, Mavs Moneyball’s own Matt Martinez highlighted the team’s passing and ball security troubles in their home-opener. Unfortunately, these problems haven’t seen much of a remedy. Dallas has given up the ball 41 times in the last two games – 21 to the Wizards and, despite the win, 20 to the Raptors. On the passing front, things do look marginally better (the Mavericks posted 32 team assists last night, a marked improvement from the measly 23 they completed Friday night), but there’s no question that this team is far away from anything that could be considered “taking care of the ball.”
To some extent, these are unavoidable problems. By refusing to trade for a starting-caliber ball handler in the off-season and slotting Cooper Flagg into the role of facilitator, the front office has already laid the groundwork for the Mavericks’ identity as a high-turnover team (at least until Kyrie Irving returns from injury). But if Dallas expects to win games against mid-to-high-level defending teams, they need to find ways to mitigate these issues now – and nowhere is this more true than in Oklahoma City. Last year, the Thunder were a collective terror for ball-handlers across the Association, forcing a league-best 10.3 steals per-game. Even missing one of their craftiest defenders in Alex Caruso, this trend is holding strong into the 2025-2026 season, with Oklahoma City taking the ball away 12, 6, and 13 times in their first three games. Against the Mavericks, there is an excellent chance that the Thunder feast, punishing Dallas’ sloppy passes and poor spacing.
What’s the solution here? Frankly, there isn’t a great one. Anthony Davis and Dereck Lively II need to play strong in the paint. P.J. Washington, D’Angelo Russell, and anyone else bringing the ball down the court need to make smart passes and have their head on the swivel. Other than that, the team simply needs to execute in all of the small ways – against a team like the Thunder, there’s very little room for error.
How the Mavericks defend against a contender
One more fact that cannot be ignored: despite their troubles, Dallas has yet to face a truly efficient, multi-dimensional offense this year. Toronto and Washington are unlikely to find themselves anywhere north of an eight-seed this season, and while Victor Wembanyama has been absolutely transcendent in his first few games, his Spurs have not yet developed into the offensive powerhouse they are certain to someday be.
Now, going into this evening, Dallas gets its first true defensive test. The Mavericks face a team that does almost everything well when the ball is in their hands: the Thunder attack the paint extremely effectively, breaking down defenses with clean cuts and pin-point kickouts. They throttle teams in transition, converting at a very high rate off forced turnovers. And, of course, they’re led by one of the most prolific scorers in the Association: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who captured last year’s league MVP, Finals MVP, and scoring title all in one season.
As with the offense, tonight’s game will serve as an excellent benchmark for the Mavericks’ defense this season. Will Davis and Lively be able to take away the paint from skilled bigs? Can Flagg and Washington stop the drive and close out on easy threes? As a unit, can this team control pace and prevent transition baskets against a team that likes to run? For better or for worse, the Dallas Mavericks have staked their season – and, likely, the next few seasons – on their ability to do all of this and more. Tonight will tell if that was a good gamble, or if Mavericks fans should start firing up the trade machine in preparation for the off-season.
The road ahead
Dallas plays their final game of the season-opening homestand on Wednesday, October 29 at 7:30 PM CT, facing off against the struggling Indiana Pacers. After that, they board a plane to Mexico City to meet the Detroit Pistons, marking the first time since 2019 the Mavericks have played in an NBA Mexico City Game.
How to watch
The Dallas Mavericks host the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday, October 27 at 7:30 PM CT. The game will be will be streamed live on MavsTV as well as broadcast locally on KFAA Channel 29. Fans can also tune in at 97.1FM KEGL (English) or at 99.1FM KFZO (Español).
