The San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks, two of the off-season’s most talked-about teams, will get their respective campaigns started when they square off on Wednesday in the newly named Frost Bank Center in the Alamo City.
Neither team made the postseason in 2022-23, and both carry aspirations for a return to the playoffs, albeit for decidedly different reasons.
San Antonio went 22-60 last season — the third-worst showing in franchise history — and finished tied for the worst record in the Western Conference. That helped earn the Spurs the top pick in the NBA draft and they snatched otherworldly forward Victor Wembanyama, the 7-foot-4 French teenager considered to be the league’s top prospect since LeBron James.
Wembanyama has been uber-impressive in the preseason, showing his knack for shooting, blocking shots and handling the ball with aplomb. He will be among the Spurs’ starting five that will also feature former lottery picks Devin Vassell and Jeremy Sochan at guard and Zach Collins at center as well as forward Keldon Johnson, who led the team in scoring at 22 points per game last season.
Johnson enters his fifth campaign as San Antonio longest-tenured player.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who enters his 28th season on the bench as the league’s all-time winningest coach, expects his team to win more this season after primarily focusing on developing young players since San Antonio’s last real chance to play in the postseason in 2020.
Dallas, meanwhile, looks to find the correct formula to allow star guards Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving to thrive. The duo played in just 16 games together after Irving was traded to the Mavericks on Feb. 6.
Doncic and Irving will be joined by forward Grant Williams, who was acquired from Boston in July, in the starting lineup but the other two spots are still to be decided. Rookie Dereck Lively II has the inside track to start at center, with the shooting forward spot a battle between Josh Green, Derrick Jones Jr. and Dante Exum.
Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said he can’t ask for anything more from his team than what they’ve given him in the runup to the season.
Doncic’s status for Wednesday’s game is still up in the air as he continues to recover from what has been listed as a mild left calf strain.
