The Dallas Mavericks are heading into the 2026-27 season with no soft landing.
After a 2025-26 campaign that went off the rails - 56 losses, Kyrie Irving never making it back from the ACL tear he suffered in March of 2025, and Anthony Davis being traded before the deadline - Dallas ended up in the lottery for the second straight year. Now the schedule is piling on before the season even has a chance to settle in.
The NBA released its full slate on Thursday, and the first eight games for Dallas are a grind. Five of those eight come against playoff teams from last season, including two meetings with the San Antonio Spurs and Victor Wembanyama, plus a matchup with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The opening stretch is loaded well beyond that. Dallas also sees the Houston Rockets twice, Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Miami Heat once, and Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers once. The only game that looks relatively manageable in the first two weeks is a home date with the Sacramento Kings on November 2.
Before that, the Mavericks open on the road against the Rockets, then head to Indiana for Haliburton’s home opener as he returns from an Achilles tear that sidelined him for all of last season. From there, the path gets steeper: San Antonio, Miami, Oklahoma City, and Houston again all show up in quick succession. The stretch eases briefly with Sacramento, then closes with another Spurs game.
It is a rough assignment for a roster trying to find its footing, and Dusty May will be thrown straight into the fire in his first season with the Mavericks. There will be no easing into the job, no gentle runway, and not much margin for error.
If Dallas can survive this opening run with some wins, it would go a long way toward building real momentum and signaling that the Mavericks belong back in the Western Conference conversation. They have not reached the NBA Playoffs since 2024, so any early success would carry real weight.
If not, the risk is obvious: another season spent digging out of a hole after a two-year stretch that has already seen Dallas lose 99 games combined since its NBA Finals appearance in 2024.
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The wrinkle is that the job may not be waiting for him. Daniel Gafford is still on Dallas roster, which means Livelys return could come with a backup assignment rather than a straightforward slide back into the starting lineup. How quickly he gets there, and whether roster moves change the equation, remains unsettled, leaving the Mavericks to manage both his recovery and the shape of the frontcourt at the same time. [Read more 🡒]