DALLAS — After a hard-fought showing in the first round against the Los Angeles Clippers in the Orlando bubble over the summer, the Dallas Mavericks return to a rising national profile against Devin Booker and Chris Paul’s Phoenix Suns.
The featured attraction tips off at 9:30 p.m. Dallas time in the Valley of the Sun and sets off an optimistic season where expectations for Luka Dončić and Co. have dramatically increased.
The world is watching
The Mavs enter the season with back-to-back national games, including the upcoming featured Christmas attraction against the World champion Lakers.
The probable starters for Dallas versus Phoenix look to be Dončić, newcomer Josh Richardson, Tim Hardaway Jr., Dorian Finney-Smith, and Dwight Powell. With Kristaps Porzingis on the mend from offseason surgery, the Mavericks will give heavy minutes in the front-court to the returning Dwight Powell and Maxi Kleber.
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Powell is back after rupturing his right Achilles tendon after playing in 40 games (37 starts), averaging 9.4 points (.638 FG%), 5.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game prior to his injury last January.
Finney-Smith entrenched himself as a starter with career highs in scoring, rebounding and field goal percentages for the fourth straight season, finishing last season with averages of 9.5 points (.466 FG%, .376 3-PT FG%) and 5.7 rebounds. The 2016 undrafted free agent out of Florida was a lone wolf on the wing when it came to defense last season, and Dallas made it their No. 1 offseason priority to change that.
Enter Josh Richardson. The man known as J-Rich, acquired from Philadelphia in a trade that sent out sharpshooter Seth Curry, averaged 13.7 points (.430 FG%, .341 3-PT FG%, .809 FT%), 3.2 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 0.9 steals with the Sixers last season. Those numbers will increase as he enjoys the spacing provided by being Dončić's teammate.
Proof of that concept is his backcourt teammate Hardaway Jr. Considered a throw-in in the Porzingis trade to make the money work, Hardaway Jr. finished the season averaging 15.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.9 assists and shot 39.8% (204-513 3-pt field goals) from beyond the arc last season, the second-most in a single season in Mavericks history.
The Dallas backcourt will of course be anchored by first-team All-NBA member and recent SLAM magazine cover-boy Dončić. With his masterful playoff performance against Los Angeles in last season’s playoffs, where he was clearly the best player on the floor in a series that included Kawhi Leonard, Dončić is a heavy favorite for league MVP.
The biggest storyline of the 2020-21 season is seeing just how far Dončić can take the Mavs up with him.
Dončić averaged a team-high 28.8 points, 9.4 rebounds and team-best 8.8 assists in 2019-2020, becoming the third player ever in league history after Oscar Robertson and Russell Westbrook to average at least 28 points, nine rebounds and eight assists over the course of a season.
Dallas enters the season as among the conference heavyweights thanks to Dončić, making for a kind reminder to the MFFLs that the guard is still just 21 years old as he enters his third NBA season out of Real Madrid by way of Slovenia.
Suns Out
Phoenix’s probable starters are Devin Booker and Chris Paul in the backcourt along with Mikal Bridges and new addition Jae Crowder, the former Maverick, fortifying the front, along with 2018 No. 1 overall pick Deandre Ayton.
Crowder began his NBA career with Dallas, playing in 181 games with the team from 2012-2014 before being traded to Boston in the deal that brought Dwight Powell and Rajon Rondo to Dallas.
Mikal Bridges and Mavericks G Jalen Brunson are quite familiar with each other as they were teammates for three seasons at Villanova, where they won two NCAA titles in their tenure (2016, 2018).
Ayton will of course be forever tied to Dončić as the latter becomes an all-World player. Nevertheless, the Suns aren’t too disappointed to have Ayton as he did average 18.2 points in 32 minutes last season. With the pleasure of receiving lobs from Paul when he and Booker are challenged, Ayton could turn in an All-Star campaign in 2021.
While we are accustomed to the greatness of Booker (26.6 points & 6.2 assists per game in 2019-2020), having a floor general like Paul will elevate the 2020 All-Star as he enters his sixth season.
The Suns won 34 games in 2019-20 including two against Dallas in the bubble. That amounted to 15 more wins than their previous season despite playing in nine fewer games due to the COVID-19 shutdown. The 15-win improvement tied for the largest in the NBA in 2019-20 and fueled the team’s decision to go all-in on Chris Paul.
Do you think the Dallas Mavericks will be able to take the next step forward in the third season with Luka Dončić? Share your thoughts with Irvin on Twitter @Twittirv.