The Dallas Mavericks didn’t exactly get a soft landing when next season’s schedule came out. Their first eight games read like a stress test: two meetings with the Houston Rockets, two with the San Antonio Spurs, plus one each against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers.
On paper, that’s a brutal opening stretch for a team that lost 56 games last season. But there’s a real upside tucked inside all that difficulty. If Dallas is going to show what it is this year, the quickest way is to force the issue right away against teams that should tell the truth about where the Mavericks stand.
That’s the part of this schedule that matters most. Early wins against that kind of competition would mean more than just a good record.
They’d give Dallas something it has been missing after back-to-back seasons without a playoff berth: momentum, belief and a reason for fans to buy in fast. A strong start could put the Mavericks in the playoff picture before the season has had time to settle.
The opponents themselves make the challenge even sharper. The Spurs and Thunder finished as the top two teams in the Western Conference last season.
The Heat just added Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Rockets have reached the playoffs in each of the last two seasons.
And the Pacers will get Tyrese Haliburton back to open the year after he missed all of last season following an Achilles tear in the 2025 NBA Playoffs.
So yes, Dallas is walking into a gauntlet. But that also means the first few weeks should answer the biggest questions surrounding the team.
Are the Mavericks good enough to be a playoff team? Is Flagg ready to take the next step?
Do they have enough backcourt depth to survive an 82-game season?
Those are the kinds of questions this schedule will force into the open quickly.
There’s also a very different feel around this roster than there was at the end of last season. Mike Schmitz and Masai Ujiri have reworked the team around Cooper Flagg, and the changes are easy to spot: better shooting, more wing versatility and more young talent that fits Flagg’s timeline.
That doesn’t mean Dallas is ready to act like a finished product. It still has plenty to prove, and most analysts have already penciled the Mavericks in as a bottom-five team in the West. But the pieces are there for a more competitive group than the outside noise suggests.
Flagg is already one of the best young players in the NBA. Kyrie Irving remains one of the most skilled point guards ever. And the center pairing of Dereck Lively II and Daniel Gafford gives Dallas a strong foundation inside, even after trading Anthony Davis in February.
If the Mavericks come out of the gate well, they can change the conversation in a hurry. If they stumble, the early schedule could end up looking less like a challenge and more like a warning. Either way, those first eight games should tell the league - and Dallas - a lot about what this team really is.
In Other News...
Klay Thompson Situation Could Put The Mavericks In A Strong Spot
Klay Thompsons future has become a small but meaningful subplot for the Mavericks as they weigh whether to move him via trade or take a different route that would send him into free agency. Around the league, the interest is real, with the Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers among the teams keeping close tabs on the situation, and Dallas appears to have a handle on a market that could shift depending on who blinks first.
Miami has been especially persistent in its pursuit of Thompson, though the path it wants is not the only one available if Dallas decides to hold firm. The Mavericks, for their part, seem inclined to work out a trade rather than simply let him go, which leaves the next move hinging less on desire than on which side is willing to compromise enough to get a deal done. [Read more 🡒]
Mavericks Fans Have A New Shawn Marion Hall Of Fame Debate
Amare Stoudemires selection to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fames 2026 class has stirred up a familiar conversation for Mavericks fans, because it puts another one of his former teammates back into the spotlight. Shawn Marion, a central piece of Dallas 2011 championship run, remains one of the names that naturally comes up when people start sorting through that eras legacy and which players ultimately get the Hall nod.
Marions case has plenty going for it beyond one title ring, and ESPN has already flagged him as a player with a strong chance to hear his name called down the road. For Mavs fans, the debate is less about whether he mattered and more about how the Hall will weigh a career that included major stops, a distinctive all-around game and a championship rsum that still carries real weight in Dallas lore. [Read more 🡒]
PJ Washingtons Confidence Puts Pressure On Dallas Roster Crunch
P.J. Washington has given the Mavericks a little early clarity in a summer that still feels crowded. After long conversations with team president Masai Ujiri, Washington said he is confident he will be on the roster when the season opens, a reassuring note for a team trying to sort out its frontcourt picture while carrying 16 players on standard contracts.
The problem for Dallas is that confidence from one player does not solve the arithmetic. The Mavericks have a packed power forward group, and with several players widely viewed as unlikely to move, the front office still has to make a decision before opening night. A few names around the roster bubble are easier to imagine in trade talks than others, which only adds to the sense that the next move may say as much about the team's priorities as the final lineup itself. [Read more 🡒]