Dusty May isn’t walking into Friday’s preseason opener in Macao looking for a polished performance. He’s looking for answers.
Dallas finally gets to see another team after spending the entire offseason being judged from the outside, with a new front office drawing praise, a national championship coach arriving on the bench, a former No. 1 pick landing for almost nothing and a roster packed with young players who have barely shared the floor.
Now the Mavericks get Houston, and May wants the matchup to reveal what this group really is.
“It will be a fact-finding mission,” May said during Saturday’s media scrum. “We want to win every drill.
We want to win every shooting competition. But winning is not going to be the primary objective.”
That doesn’t mean he’s taking the Rockets lightly. Quite the opposite. May sees Houston as the kind of opponent that can immediately stress-test a new team.
“They're going to expose some things because of the way they play and how hard they play and their athleticism and their switchability, but also then their skill on offense will challenge some parts defensively,” May said.
It’s an awkward first assignment for a Mavericks group that has been together for only about a week in training camp. Houston brings length, physicality and the kind of switching defense that can make life miserable for the ballhandler, with Amen Thompson ready to turn up the pressure. On the other end, Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengun give the Rockets real offensive punch.
May’s goal is less about the scoreboard and more about what Dallas learns when the easy stuff disappears.
“We need to leave Macao with a much better understanding of what our holes are on offense and defense and what are some things that we can hang our hat on when the game slows down,” May said.
That’s the real value of a preseason game like this one. The flashy possessions matter less than the stretches where the pace drags and a team has to solve a problem. Those are the moments May wants to study, because they’re the ones that usually carry over.
And there are plenty of questions. Kyrie Irving has not played an NBA game since March 2025.
Cooper Flagg is entering Year 2 with expectations that didn’t exist a year ago. Most of the roster falls into the same bucket: talented, intriguing and largely untested together.
Dallas has spent all of camp figuring out what fits.
May has not tipped his hand on usage either. He hasn’t said anything about minute restrictions, rotations or how long the starters will play in either game, which is standard for a first preseason trip but still leaves fans guessing about how much they’ll see of Irving and Flagg.
The first look comes early for viewers at home. Friday’s game starts at 7 a.m.
Central, and the rematch on Sunday begins at 5 a.m. Dallas then returns home to finish the preseason against New Orleans on Oct. 14 and Atlanta on Oct.
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