Flagg looks awesome

Everybody else….

Why is the game blacked out in Dallas? At least it is on NBA channel on DTV

Legend said:

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Why is the game blacked out in Dallas? At least it is on NBA channel on DTV

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It's on Mavs.com for people in Dallas, I think.

NBATV switched to the Rockets broadcast after the first commercial because the Mavs were having such bad audio issues.

Vessel said:

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Flagg looks awesome

Everybody else….

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There's just not a ton of good shot creation out there without Kyrie or even Larry on the floor. Just feels like Flagg, some shooters and a big. That's going to be the single biggest concern for this team.

Also, I think Houston could be a wagon this year with FVV back. I think he's that important to their success, and could unlock Reed Sheppard by allowing him to play off the ball more and not have the ball in his hands to turn it over.

Overall not great but trying not to overreact to the first preseason game on the other side of the world. Missing Kyrie, PJ, and Aldama, who are 3 of the top 7 or 8 guys on the team. Not even factoring Lively.

Flagg looks to have taken the step we all hoped. 3 pointer is still a little shaky. The one he made was so pure and the few he missed were all disjointed from the ground up and you knew they had no chance.

Rez was fine, he seemed to do better against Sengun than Gaff did. Made a 3 that looked nice but also missed two that were completely disjointed and were hopeless. Wish he was a little more aggressive inside the arc.

Gaff made a 3 that was so pure. He's going to shoot this year. Looked ok overall but still always seems to leave something to be desired. Sengun bullied him a little.

Biberovic has such a nice looking shot. He was way too hesitant to shoot about 5 times before putting the ball on the ground leading to nothing. He just needs to be ready to pull from 3.

The Risacher preseason hype train should officially be dead. He was terrible in the minutes against the Rockets starters. He has absolutely no plan on his way to the basket and he's extremely weak.

Dwight Powell getting lots of minutes before we even saw Cisse on the court is concerning.

Looking forward to see how different it looks with Kyrie on the floor and on this side of the world.

I'm not reading to much into that one outside of Risacher looking pretty putrid. That was just throwing guys on the court more or less, and as you said, they were missing 3 of the top 7 guys who are going to get tons of minutes this year. Sasser didn't play either, and I just do not think they traded for him to be a DNP every night with our lack of guard depth.

Oh and Larry continues to impress. He's going to be a guy.

Agree on Larry. Needs to take care of the ball a little better but he's nice.

Reading tea leaves, seems like Kyrie is going to miss plenty of games this year, so Larry and Sasser are going to play big roles. Get Larry up to speed quickly.

A good year for Kyrie will be playing 60 games. Also, they already said he was only going to play one of these two games, which I agree with. Absolutely no need to have him play both. He's Kyrie freaking Irving.

I do think it's odd he didn't play this one. He hasn't played a game in 20 months, so I don't understand what holding him out two more days does.

Now he's going to play his first game in forever and he's going to be doing his recovery on a day long plane ride home? It's also shorter recovery time before the next game.

Probably not a super big deal, but just not how I would have looked at it.

Also this

Yes pic.twitter.com/XKvd6YpE79

— Did Dwight Powell get hit in the face tonight? (@DwightsFace) October 9, 2026

Finally got around to watching more of the game this evening. My takeaways were kinda what I mentioned earlier in that I think Houston could be a wagon this year with FVV back. I think he makes that much of a difference. I was also pretty encouraged from what I saw overall. Love them just chucking up threes, going fast, and looking confident, especially Christie.

What I worry about right now the most is lack of point of attack defense (go figure). It won't be as bad as last year, but it probably won't be good either unless someone, or a few, take it upon themselves to lock in and be dawgs on defense and let their offensive game take a back seat. Looking at you Naji and PJ.

Another mutual option, this time in Brandin Podziemski's extension with the Warriors. @JakeLFischer did a great job outlining the comeback of mutual option for @TheSteinLine in the piece linked below! https://t.co/yoqjVhqac1

— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) October 10, 2026

Interesting league wide trend that seems to be gaining steam is the "mutual option."

Also nice deal for GS getting Podz at 5 for $110 million.

Tksymm7 said:

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Also, I think Houston could be a wagon this year with FVV back. I think he's that important to their success, and could unlock Reed Sheppard by allowing him to play off the ball more and not have the ball in his hands to turn it over.

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I think he and Adams are the leaders they need, but I still think the locker room will be kind of broken as long as Durant is there. Just the most toxic type of guy there is. And Houston blew so many leads last year but Durant was brought in to be that clutch go to scorer. Maybe with Fred setting him up it will be better, but FVV also looked like he lost a step before he tore his ACL. He shot .378/.345 in 24/25 before the injury and only 5.6apg in 35mpg. He turns 33 this season. I think he will help by being a real PG but I don't have confidence in him being the guy that can really turn it around. Smart, Amen, Reed and Sengun are going to be their secondary playmakers, so I think they will have similar issues to last year in play creation. I also think they will have spacing issues, even with Fred back. Fred was sub35% last time he played. I don't believe in Sengun and Amen's shot. Smart is career 32%. So they have Jabari/Eason (both 36%) and Durant./Sheppard and a bunch of non- or subaverage shooters. I think two shooters with 3-non shooters is going to be easy to defend.

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Back to the Mavs, I'm probably higher than most on Morez. I think he is going to be a legit player. I think he will be an All-Defense level player that defends primarily 3-5 but won't get abused on switches. Assuming the Spurs are going to be good for a long time, he's exactly the guy you want to defend Wemby. Strong and athletic. People keep wanting it to be tall slow guys like Mara or Clingan or Gobert, but those guys get played off the court. It is guys like OG Anunoby, and I think Morez is a bigger, stronger, more athletic version of OG. He just really needs to keep developing that three, but I think his mechanics are pretty solid so I believe in that. If his shot develops and Lively's feet arent toast, a Lively, Morez, Flagg front court would be exceptional defensively. Just need to find that long term Kyrie replacement and a POA D&3 SG. I like Sasser a lot as a long term backup/depth PG. Risacher should be a solid backup D&3 wing. That is the right role for him. I think he is realistically like a skinnier Julian Champagnie. Playing with better front court guys and guys with more gravity and consistency should help, especially now that he is gone and doesn't have the same pressure as he did in Atlanta.

I like what the Mavs are building, especially with all the front court size.

First play of the game run an iso for Kyrie against Jabari and he does what Kyrie does. Warms the heart.

We're going to be alright hahahah

Rockets didn't play KD, Sengun, Adams, or FVV, but they still rolled out Amen, Tari, Jabari, Smart, and Sheppard. So we played against some real NBA players.

No surprise we look infinitely better with Kyrie. If Kyrie is hindered at all by his injury it's hard to tell. Still got by guys to the rim and looked like he was generating plenty of lift.

Larry is a real player. Can shoot it and get people good looks. Had some really nice defensive possessions as well. Somehow was +34 for the game lol.

Nice to see PJ out there and he does not look injured as was suggested by the Mavs 2 days ago lol.

Tobi Lawal is such an interesting stash. His athleticism is Thompson twin level. He jumps over people for rebounds and he swallows people up defensively. If he's able to develop any sort of offensive game (thinking we're looking at a 2-3 year project), he could be really intriguing.

Really loved what I saw from everyone to be honest. Kyrie looked like Kyrie, Biberovic and Christie (Christie in particular) are confident and bombing threes, and Larry is the real freaking deal. His only issue I see is that his jumper is a little slow at this stage in his development and I think he would struggle getting up shots against long defenders, but that's normal. Heck even Risacher was good today.

Idk what is going on with Dwight Powell getting real minutes, so with Aldama and Lively still out I don't love that, but I guess we'll see.

Risacher is a nearly 7' tall 10-month old golden retriever with the zoomies lol. Dude is all over the place in a good way and a bad way lol. But yeah he had some nice defensive moments and the two offensive putbacks were great. You can see that they've told him his role is to be a chaos agent on the offensive glass when he's in the game. A couple threes that were pretty smooth too.

Yeah the Powell thing has my attention. It could just be preseason silliness, but I've gone from thinking there's a 0% chance he's on the team to basically 50/50. You'd have to have someone want to trade for Moussa in the next week or you have to cut him.

He 100% looks like a large one year old puppy that still hasn't quite figured out how big he is hahaha. I really liked the role he was put in though. Essentially be a huge guard, shoot it when you get an open look and crash the s**t outta the boards. It could maximize him.

ETA: in no way is he starter.

After these two games my starting lineup right now is:

Kyrie
Christie
Flagg
PJ
Aldama (completely guessing here but I think Santi fits better with PJ and Flagg because he's a legit threat to shoot)

It could also be Gafford, but I don't think he's been great and he's a backup C through and through. The above lineup imo gives us the best combination of size, length and scoring and it's what I would try first. I would also prefer to see Morez start over Gafford, but if you go Flagg/Morez/PJ I don't know if that's enough shooting.

Primary backups right now are:

Larry
Naji
Risacher
Morez
Gafford

Sasser will factor in here as well imo, and maybe a lot because I think he can play a solid combo guard but I didn't include him because we haven't seen him yet. I also have no clue what to do with Powell. I think he's been a better C than Gafford but is he really going to make the team and play legit minutes? Idk. Lastly, Sasser, Martin and one of Powell or Gafford round out the bench. Biberovic will not suit up most nights imo.

Yeah I have no clue what they plan on doing at center while Lively is out. Could be Gaff, Aldama, or Morez starting there. I do think it's notable that Morez started game 1 at center. Much better to have Gaff come off the bench.

I agree with you that I would prefer Christie start over Zac, but I don't think that is what will happen. I think the way the Mavs look at is either Zac or Max are you best POA defenders outside of Martin. Zac and Max basically are the same level of defender, but Zac is 5-6 inches taller and much longer. I can see the logic there because you'd definitely rather have Zac guarding the big wings/guards in the league like Luka, SGA, Ant, etc.

If Zac is going to be the type of player who has to grow in to each game, as he has been each of these first two games, then it may be better to start him to get the jitters out of the way. Does the same happen when he comes off the bench? Or does coming off the bench allow the nerves of the start of the game to wear off? One of the eternal sports philosophical questions lol.

To start the year, I think this could be a fun starting 5 that allows you to have good players off the bench:

Kyrie
Max
Zac
Flagg
Rez

It's a little more shooting and athleticism, but you do have to wonder if Zac and Coop will be able to hold their own with the rebounding responsibilities of a 3 and 4. It's a pretty nice defensive group.

Then you'd have Naji, PJ, Aldama, and Gaff as primary options off the bench, which is a really solid bench unit. Sasser and Larry in as guard options as needed. Maybe Sasser starts on Kyrie's off days to not upset the bench rotations.

I'm pretty sure you can dress all 15 rostered players, so Biberovic will be able to wear a jersey at least lol. I'd like to see Biberovic get plenty of opportunities, but when you list everybody out it is hard to see where the playing time comes from.

Also pretty brutal of the league to have us play one of our preseason games just 3 nights after playing in China. Basically have a day and a half in America before playing again.

Robs us fans because basically nobody who matters is going to play.

I think you'll see a little of Coop, Christie, Morez, PJ etc. but it may only be like 15 minutes maximum. Zero chance Kyrie is playing though, however. It is a really long way to go with egregious jet lag, but they are also professional athletes paid and supported by millions of dollars. They'll be okay.

The other side of the coin is that Dusty and company also need to get a serious extended look at guys like Biberovic, Larry, Sasser (hopefully), Lawal etc. I think everyone knows the 8-10 players that are going to be on this team and get legit minutes. Now it's trying to figure out players 11-15 that we could utilize or develop.

I wish we'd see all those guys, but I don't know why the Mavs would risk it. Especially with guys who actually have injuries they are recovering from like Rez, Aldama, PJ (supposedly), and Sasser.

Rez was limited throughout camp I think with the same calf injury he had in SL. Need to be really careful with him because he needs to be playing 24+ minutes in 70ish games this season.

At that point just rest everybody and use the final preseason game as your dress rehearsal game. The final preseason game is 5 days before the first regular season game, so it does seem like a good time for it.

I finally got around to listening to the Bill Simmons Western Conference Over/Under Projections podcast. From a Mavs perspective, Bill and Zach Lowe both seem surprisingly high on the team if they keep it together. Their primary reservations are Dereck Lively's health and the ultimate "what if" scenario where Dallas trades Kyrie Irving while his value is high.

Bill and Joe House took the Over (34.5), while Lowe hit the under, largely due to the Lively injury concerns and the potential Kyrie trade factor.

That got me curious about what everyone here thinks and where you'd put your money. Here are the most consistent over/under win totals across major sportsbooks right now (these may very by a game because people are beginning to bet and shift lines):

Team 202627 Win Total (O/U)
Oklahoma City Thunder - 62.5
San Antonio Spurs - 59.5
Denver Nuggets - 49.5
Minnesota Timberwolves - 48.5
Houston Rockets - 47.5
Los Angeles Lakers - 46.5
Portland Trail Blazers - 41.5 / 43.5 (varies by book)
Golden State Warriors - 40.5
Phoenix Suns - 38.5
Utah Jazz - 35.5
Dallas Mavericks - 34.5
Los Angeles Clippers - 30.5
Memphis Grizzlies - 29.5
New Orleans Pelicans - 27.5
Sacramento Kings - 20.5 / 21.5 (varies by book)

Some of my favorite locks would be: OKC Over 62.5 (just think they are a wagon this year because they are healthy); Houston Over 47.5 (feels like a 50 win team at worst if FVV, Smart and Adams can stay healthy); Golden State Under 40.5 (they're old and injured); Mav over 34.5 (if Cooper and Kyrie are two of the top 25 players in the league, barring catastrophic injury, I just don't see how we don't win 35 or more games; Clippers Under 30.5 (they might be the worst team in the West.

What are some of your favorites picks?

I think we might not see a 60 win team this year, because it will be a weird year without many teams tanking and a lot of previously bad/tanking teams trying not to tank.

Suck and own their own pick

Kings will be god awful and own their own pick.

Pelicans probably as well, but they do have some talent. I think the Pelicans should trade off everything and blow it up. They own the best of theirs or Milwaukee's first and the other goes to the Hawks for the DeJounte trade.

Memphis is rebuilding and owns their own, the Lakers, and can swap their own for UTA, CLE, MIN

Bulls. But they made moves to try to not suck like signing Norm Powell. They aren't going to tank.

Charlotte. I think they will be better than people think. Addition by subtraction with Ball.

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Suck and can't tank:

Clippers - OKC owns their first.

Milwaukee - their first goes to either Atlanta or NOLA.

Brooklyn - their first goes to Houston

Phoenix - their first goes to Houston

Atlanta - their first goes to SA


Because we aren't going to have 1/3rd of the league tanking, a lot of the high win totals will be depressed a bit.

I think the Jazz and Mavs will be better than 35 wins. Clippers worse. I think the Wolves will be worse than a lot of people think. They lost their physicality and Kuminga and Ball are negatives with the mental game and will get abused defensively. I think the Pelicans will be better than that, but I would never bet on Zion, even if he is in the best shape of his career. DeJounte played pretty good when he came back last year.

My only argument for OKC going over is that they went 64-18 without Jalen Williams for essentially the entire season. And they are going to get a full year out Jared McCain; they added Mara and Stirtz; and it seems like Topic is going to be something this year. That's just a lot of upward pointing positives imo. JDub was a top 15-25 player in the league in 2024-2025. Adding him healthy alone is a crazy boost.

And while I acknowledge that seemingly less teams will be capital T Tanking, I don't think that means we won't see teams still try to be intentionally bad. We are, it will just be more teams between 25-30 wins instead of having three or four with less than 20, and another 6 with between 21-30.

I have zero expectations on Mara and Stirtz. I don't think Topic plays a real role unless they get the injury bug again. SGA, JDub, Ajay, Cason, McCain, and Caruso - who are Topic and Stirtz getting minutes from? Ajay and Cason are both playing for contracts. JDub being healthy will be the biggest change.

Mara and Sorber may help if Hartenstein gets hurt, but both are rookies. I think they will continue to do more with Kenrich and Jaylin, who are more versatile.

They will obviously be good and losing three rotation players won't hurt them much because of their depth, but I dont think any of those guys will be main rotation players.

SGA/Ajay
Cason/McCain
JDub/Caruso
Chet/Kenrich
Hart/Jaylin

How good they will be will all center around health of their core and I think Hart, JDub, and Chet are all pretty notable health risks.

But I think the lack of tanking teams will depress the win totals some because there wont be as many cake walks where they can rest players for all the good teams. Just going to be a much tougher season in general, which is great for fans.

I should've been more pointed with my words; I meant adding Mara and Stirtz from a depth perspective. Not that they will get tons of minutes. They won't. They are the deepest team in the league once again and I think their bench got even better by adding those guys.

Yeah, it certainly doesn't hurt, but I just think it is a complete non-factor unless a lot goes wrong. If they are helping on the court, the core 9 players are hurt and they are a sub-60 win team. I think they are all players they are looking to in future years because they likely have to make more depth cuts next summer when SGA gets a $20M raise. Wallace supposedly wants 25-30M/year, which would also be about a $20M raise. Right now, OKC is over the 2nd Apron for next season BEFORE resigning Wallace or Kenrich Williams.

Obviously this is all assuming health, but I think the Mavs should win more than 34 games this year (not factoring Lively at all). Obviously more talented with Kyrie back and Flagg in year 2. The schedule is brutal to start the year, so it could feel like a loser early on, but if the Mavs stick to their guns it should be fine in the end.

We'll also be taking and making more 3 pointers. We were in the bottom 5 in both 3PA and 3P% last season. Even if those just go to middle of the pack, that is mathematically several more wins.

If Lively plays in just 30 games, that alone gives us at least 5 more wins than last season. So I think there are lots of reasons for optimism.

Some overs I love are Toronto over 46.5 wins and Detroit over 47.5 wins. The Detroit one makes no sense as they won 60 games last year with basically the same team. Replacing Tobias with John Collins and added Isaiah Joe. Pacers over 44.5 is pretty enticing also. I kinda like Atlanta over 44.5 too. The fact that I like so many East teams probably explains why all the win totals are what they are lol. Minnesota 46.5 may be my favorite over in the West.

Unders I like are Sacramento 20.5. Honestly not sure how this team wins 15 games lol. Like Charlotte under 37.5. Lamelo completely stirred the drink for them. If you look at on/off stuff for Lamelo paired with each player, it's clear Lamelo made that team go. Not seeing it with Portland 41.5. Just doesn't feel like a .500 team. They need more Jrue, not less.

I the same pod, Bill pointed out there will be 2 playoff teams from the following group (4 play-in teams): Phoenix, Utah, Dallas, Portland, GS, and Memphis.

Should make us feel pretty good about making the play-in at minimum.

Also the Memphis hype is out of control to me. O/U was 28.5 and has already been bet up to 30.5. I love Boozer, but he needs to be a top 40-50 player immediately for this to go over, along with Edey playing 60+ games.

On paper they are in the same tier as the Pelicans, ahead of only LAC and SAC. That doesn't seem like a 30+ win team.

Also the Mavs should trade for Ty Jerome lol.