The Dallas Mavericks opened the 2026-27 season in exactly the kind of shape that makes the last season-and-a-half feel even heavier. A trip to Houston.
A 128-110 loss. A night where the Rockets pulled away and Dallas looked like a team still searching for balance, composure and answers.
New coach Dusty May didn’t sugarcoat it afterward.
"We had a couple of things that didn't go in our favor, and we just didn't hold our composure," said new coach Dusty May after a shockingly lopsided 128-110 loss. "We let go of the rope as a group, but overall, I thought we played and competed three out of the four quarters. Just the second [quarter], we couldn't figure out a way to right the ship."
That second quarter told the story. The Mavericks never really recovered, and the opener fit right into the uneasy reality around this team: a rebuild with a lot more questions than certainty.
The burden of the Luka Doncic trade still hangs over everything. Doncic is now in Los Angeles with the Lakers, and the ripple effects of that move are still very much alive in Dallas.
The player the Mavericks got back, Anthony Davis, played only 29 games for the franchise before moving on to the Washington Wizards. Nico Harrison, the general manager who made the trade, has been fired and is out of the NBA.
Jason Kidd, who was left to manage the fallout, was also "parted-ways-with'' after last season’s 26-56 finish.
So now it’s Dusty May at the controls, with new team president Masai Ujiri trying to steer the franchise somewhere better. There are some fresh pieces to point at: Cooper Flagg, the 2025 Rookie of the Year, who poured in 32 points in the opener; Kyrie Irving, back and looking healthy while scoring 15; and first-round rookies Morez Johnson and Sergio De Larrea.
Still, the optimism comes with a hard edge. Las Vegas has Dallas projected for only 35 wins, and the Mavericks are listed as a 180-to-1 longshot to win the NBA championship, better than only eight teams.
And the schedule doesn’t exactly offer a soft landing. The Mavericks are staring at an opening eight-game slate that will test just how much progress this new version can make early.
The bigger problem is emotional, not statistical. This franchise used to carry the lift of Dirk Nowitzki and the memory of the 2011 title.
That glow is gone. Doncic is gone.
The old MFFL confidence feels buried under the wreckage.
Even now, people are still talking about the trade. "I’m not saying you were right because you way overexaggerated it," the girlfriend says these days.
“But everybody still talks about. Nobody is happy they traded Luka.”
Hard to argue with that after another bleak opening night.
In Other News...
Mavericks Opener Puts Dallas New Era Under Immediate Pressure
The Mavericks are walking into the 2026-27 season with a nearly remade look and very little room to ease into it, opening on the road against Houston as the franchise starts a new era under fresh front office leadership and first-year coach Dusty May. Dallas will lean on a group that includes seven new players, with rookie Cooper Flagg expected to be central to the next step after a historic debut season, and the opener already carries the feel of an early gauge on how quickly all the moving parts can come together.
Kyrie Irving gives the roster another major piece in the backcourt, while rookie Morez Johnson Jr. is part of the influx of new talent the Mavericks are counting on to reshape the rotation. For a team trying to bounce back from last season, the challenge is not just about talent but about timing, chemistry and whether a roster with this much turnover can settle in fast enough to survive a tough first test. [Read more 🡒]
Mavericks Opener Took A Heated Turn That Changed The Night
The Mavericks season opener quickly lost its opening-night polish when tempers flared early against Houston, turning what should have been a clean first look at the new campaign into a choppy, physical test. Even with the game still in its early stages, the Rockets had already set the tone, and the first half became more about managing the emotion in the building than settling into a rhythm.
Tari Easons night went sideways in a hurry after a confrontation with P.J. Washington escalated into a flagrant foul and an ejection, leaving Houston to adjust without him almost immediately. Still, the Rockets did not let the moment derail them, building a sizable cushion before halftime and leaving Dallas to sort through both the score and the edge that came with the opener. [Read more 🡒]
Kyrie Irvings Return Left Mavericks Fans With One Immediate Concern
Kyrie Irvings long-awaited return gave Mavericks fans their first real look at how the backcourt will function early in the new season, and it came on a night packed with other notable debuts and fresh starts around the league. The second night of the 2026-27 schedule also featured a slate of high-profile returns and new-team appearances, but in Dallas, all eyes were on how Irving would fit back into a group trying to sort out its identity.
The game itself offered a mixed early read on that partnership, especially with reigning Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg now in the mix. Irving was on the floor for only 24 minutes and never returned for the fourth quarter in the loss to Houston, leaving the Mavericks with one obvious question to carry into the next stretch of the season: how quickly can this version of the team get its best players on the same page? [Read more 🡒]