Dallas Mavericks vs. San Antonio Spurs Preview: What To Watch For + Cooper Flagg NBA Debut

Dallas Mavericks vs. San Antonio Spurs Preview: What To Watch For + Cooper Flagg NBA Debut

Coming up on today’s show, Stephen A. Smith puts out his season prediction for the Dallas Mavericks. And we’re going to hit you with the Mavs verse opening night preview. Opening night is tomorrow. I absolutely cannot wait for Mavs basketball to be back. I’m super excited. And we are going to be live right here on the channel tomorrow night breaking it all down with you. It’s an 8:30 p.m. Central time tip off. Probably more like 8:45 knowing ESPN, but we’ll be live tomorrow at 8:15 Central time. So, hit that subscribe button. Join us right now. We’re going to have an absolute party. We’ll be breaking down, doing playbyplay, fan interaction, all of that good stuff right here on the channel, 8:15 p.m. Central time tomorrow night. Stephen A. Smith had some interesting things to say about the Dallas Mavericks. And to be honest with you, I don’t know if I agree with what Stephen A had to say surrounding the Mavs. Look, man, it’s it’s something that Stephen A is always going to be that bold take artist that we all know and love from First Take, going on SiriusXM, going on all over the place, basically throwing his opinions out here. And he went on Carmelo Anony’s podcast of all places, and said this about the Dallas Mavericks. He said, “If Kyrie Irving comes back healthy, and Anthony Davis is healthy, I think Dallas should be the favorite to win it all. Cooper Flag can play. You got Anthony Davis who doesn’t have to play the five because you have Gaffford and Lively. Then you got PJ Washington who can play. Jason Kidd can coach. I believe that the Dallas Mavericks, if they are healthy, can win the chip.” I hope I’m wrong, Stephen A. I just don’t see what you’re seeing. I don’t know if this team has the capability to win the NBA title this season. And it’s not necessarily because of them. I think it’s just because the competition is so staunch here in the Western Conference. The the top three teams in the West, in my opinion, is pretty clear-cut. The Oklahoma City Thunder, the Denver Nuggets, and the Houston Rockets. I think those are your top three teams. Those will be your top three seeds in the West heading into the playoffs. And then you get into tier two, which is just a a compilation of teams who, yeah, they could take that step up or they could kind of be in the playin area and maybe struggle in the West just because there are so many hard games. You have the likes of the Minnesota Timberwolves who have made the conference finals two straight years. You have the Lakers who can absolutely win it with Luca and LeBron. You have the Los Angeles Clippers who I think will have a good season. The Warriors will be better than they were last year. You have Memphis, Dallas, and San Antonio all in the same division as well, fighting for one of those top six seeds. And I do think that th the tier one plus these or these seven is going to make up your 10 teams that make the Western Conference playoffs that that compile the top six seeds and the playin in the West. And it’s all about finishing in that top six. And can the Mavs do that? I do think they can finish in the top six, but it’s going to take a hell of an effort and it’s going to take staying healthy for the most part. I mean, you have the And then basically the third tier is going to be the teams that I don’t think you’re going to see at all. Sacramento, Phoenix, and New Orleans. Like those teams I think are going to be pretty non-competitive. But at the end of the day, you’re going to have to play a lot of games on backto-backs, a lot of games without some of your best players because you have to account for Anthony Davis missing some games. You have to account for Cooper Flag potentially struggling in his new role as point guard of the Mavericks. You’re going to have to account for Derrick Lively to miss some games and PJ Washington to miss some games. on top of the fact that the West is ultra competitive. Like the West is so much better than the East and that’s been the case for a while now. But I do think that the competition in the West is going to prevent the Mavericks from being serious contenders in for the NBA title simply just because I think the competition from Houston, from Denver, and from who was the other team I had up there? Who? The Thunder. Excuse me. My goodness, I’m all over the place today. and the Thunder, who won the title last year, are going to be those top three teams in the Western Conference. I’ll ask you guys though for today’s pin comment. Can the Mavericks win the NBA title? Type why for yes or type N for no down there in the comments. Let me know what you guys think. I’ll be typing my N for no. Call me cynical. Call me pessimistic. It is what it is. I just don’t think they can do it. I’ve showed you this graphic multiple times here on the channel with Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis, Derek Lively, all these guys missing a bunch of games. Look, PJ Washington missed 25 games last year. D’Angelo Russell missed 24 games last year. Dante Exom, who has not practiced or played with the team in the Mavericks preseason, missed 62 games last year. And I think he’s going to miss game number one tomorrow night against the San Antonio Spurs. This team just can’t stay healthy for the life of them. And by the grace of God, that’s going to change. And the Mavs are gonna find a way to just pray to the NBA gods that they can stay healthy this season and that Cooper Flag can step into his new role as a point guard, a position that he has never played before and it’ll all come together. They need a lot of things to go right, but I really think that let’s just play this hypothetical. Let’s say they are healthy and the Mavericks do get the 65 plus from AD and they get 70 plus from PJ Washington. It’ll all come down to Cooper Flag and whether or not he is ready to take this next step into the NBA. I have no doubt in my mind that Flag is going to be a very good, maybe even great NBA player. The question is, is he going to be ready to take on the role that Jason Kidd and the Mavericks are thrusting upon him here very early in his NBA career? They’re doing a lot of the same things that Kidd did with Giannis in Milwaukee early in his tenure. Now, are we calling Cooper Flag Giannis? I’m not quite there yet. I think Flag has a lot to work on as far as his point guard skills go. And Jason Kit a couple of days ago said he’s not really playing point guard. It’s more of a point forward, but you have to list someone at PG. So that’s what they’re doing with Flag. At the end of the day though, when the Mavericks announce their starting lineup tomorrow night, it’s going to be Flag at point guard. And I’ll be fascinated to see how he handles that and how other teams defend him and if he’s able to flourish in a role that he is pretty unfamiliar with. We will get to a Mavs vers Spurs preview here in just a few moments. But before we do that, today’s show is brought to you by Price Picks. And you and I make decisions every single day, but on Price Picks, those right decisions can get you paid. Shout out to Price for sponsoring this episode of Mavericks Today. It is available in 45 states, including California, Georgia, and Texas. They put their members first, so all withdrawals are fast, safe, and secure. Price now offers Venmo, PayPal, and Apple Pay for quick and easy deposits and withdrawals into your account this basketball season. And yes, the basketball season is officially here. And I do have a projection for you guys. Look, man, let’s see what the Mavs can do on opening night. And you can also take advantage of that Steph Curry Max discount. If you think he’s going to score more than half a point, put that and pair it up with a few other projections and you could win some real cash. Give me the more on Anthony Davis block shots at one and a half. Also take the more on Cooper Flag, two and a half blocks plus steals. And give me the less on Victor Webbyama for assist. You can copy my picks or make pics of your own. Just please make sure you do it with our friends over at Price Picks. Download the Prize Pix app today and use code CLNS to get $50 in lineups when you play your first $5 lineup. One more time, that is code CLNS to get $50 in lineups when you play your first $5 lineup. That link will be in the comments and description. It is price fix. It is good to be right. Opening night is officially tomorrow. Like I said, 8:30 p.m. Central time tip off at the American Airlines Center. The Mavericks are a three-point favorite, which means on a neutral side, it would basically be a pick them. And the overunder is 22.6 12 or 20 22 26 and a half, excuse me. I think I’m going to take the under on that as I think this will be a pretty lowscoring game between two defensive teams here. And I think the Mavs are and this is the third straight year that the Mavs and Spurs have done battle on opening night. And I think the Mavericks are going to come out here with a different look that the Spurs really have not seen from the Mavs over the last couple of seasons. Here are my projected starting lineups for both teams. And full disclosure, I don’t know exactly how San Antonio is going to line up because they have a couple of injuries and they haven’t really kept a steady lineup throughout the preseason. But I’m very confident that the Mavs are going to throw out a starting five of Cooper Flag, Klay Thompson, PJ Washington, AD, and Derek Lively. I believe this is how San Antonio will line up with Dylan Harper, the number two overall pick at point guard, Stefan Castle, last year’s rookie of the year. Then you have Devin Vel, Harrison Barnes, and Victor Webeyama. That’s how I see them lining up. That absolutely could change, and they could throw like Justin Champeny in there. They could throw a couple of other guys in there as well. So, don’t take that Spurs starting lineup for Gospel. But if I had to predict it, that’s what I think it is. And the reason that it’s kind of jumbled up is because they have two starting caliber players who are out for them in Dear Fox, who is dealing with a hamstring injury, and Jeremy Sohan, who is dealing with a wrist injury. I think both of those guys would have ended up in the Spurs opening night starting lineup if they were fully healthy. But alas, the Mavericks catch a break with De’Arren Fox because Fox always kills the Mavericks. It feels like he’s one of those guys that is I label as a Mavericks killer. every time he sees the Mavericks blue, he tends to go off. So, Mavs may be catching a break there on opening night, but still certainly have their hands full with the much improved San Antonio Spurs. But Derek Lively in the few games that he has played against Victor Webbyama has performed very well. If if we go back to both of their NBA debuts in the 23 24 season, Lively fully outplayed WBY in that game and has done that multiple times. I don’t know why WBY struggles against Derek Lively. Look, Lively grew two inches this off seasonason as well. So, he’s 7’3 compared to Wem 75. So, he’s actually one of the few players in the NBA that can, you know, stay with him heightwise. And he Lively is certainly a more physical player than Victor Webbeyama is. So, that’ll be a very interesting matchup to look at here on opening night is Derrick Lively verse Victor Webeyama. And when Lively comes out of the game and Daniel Gaffford comes in, will it be Anthony Davis that ends up matching up with Wemi? That’ll be something that Jason Kidd will have to decide whether he wants uh he wants Anthony Davis to defend WBY who might be more out on the perimeter as opposed to down low. So, couple of interesting matchups to look at there between the Mavericks and the San Antonio Spurs. All right, I previewed the game for you guys. It is prediction time. Predict the score of Mavs versus Spurs down there in the comment section. I’ll give you my prediction here in just a second. But before I do that, go get yours down below in the comments. I’m never going to predict a loss on opening night. I don’t care if the Mavericks are playing the dream team, if they’re playing the team from Space Jam, if they’re playing the Monstars. I don’t care. The Mavericks are winning on opening night. Give me a lower scoring game. 10297. I think the Mavs are going to come out victorious here on opening night. And by God, they need to come out victorious because they have the first five games of the season all at the American Airlines Center at home and they have to come out hot. This team historically does not come out of the gates very well, but man, they have to if they want to do damage here in the Western Conference. We laid out how competitive the West is earlier in the show with the likes of the Thunder, the Nuggets, the Rockets. You have so many good teams in the West. Like, there are maybe two bad teams in the Western Conference. It’s going to be very difficult. You have to get out to a hot start. And one more time, as a reminder, we will be live tomorrow night on the channel for Mavericks vers Spurs flag verseama right here opening night 8:15 p.m. Central time is when we’ll be going live. You should get a push notification if you are subscribed and have your notifications turned on. About 30 minutes before and when we go live. So that’s another reason to hit that sub button, turn on your noties so you don’t miss when we go live for Mavericks versus Spurs.

Dallas Mavericks news highlights this edition of Mavericks Today by Chat Sports as Cooper Flagg and the Dallas Mavericks are preparing to kickoff their 2025-26 NBA season Wednesday night against Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs. Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/CLNS and use code CLNS and get $50 in lineups when you play your first $5 lineup! Mavs fans will get the chance to see Flagg, the #1 overall pick from the 2025 NBA Draft, made his NBA debut on Wednesday, and after his performance in the Summer League and NBA Preseason Mavs fans are in for a treat. Mavericks Today host Jeffrey Cooperstein is here to provide NBA fans a preview of Wednesday night’s Mavericks vs. Spurs matchup as well as discuss what to expect in Flagg’s NBA debut.

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Stephen A Smith on the Dallas Mavericks season:
If Kyrie Irving comes back healthy and Anthony Davis is healthy, I think Dallas should be the favorite to win it all. Cooper Flagg can play, you got Anthony Davis who doesn’t have to play the 5. Then you got PJ Washington who can play. Jason Kidd can coach. I believe that the Dallas Mavericks if the healthy, can win the Chip.

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