Dallas Mavericks open season against Victor Wembanyama, Spurs

The Dallas Mavericks will open the 2024-2025 season at home against Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs, according to NBA insider Marc Stein.

According to Stein the date is set for Oct. 24 on national TV on TNT. This will be the second season in a row the Mavericks and Spurs open the season against each other, as Dallas faced Wembanyama in his NBA debut last year.

This will also double as the debut of Chris Paul as a Spur, who signed with San Antonio in the off-season. Paul played last season with the Golden State Warriors, mostly as a backup leading bench units. The Spurs didn’t make a big splash this summer, but with Paul, 2024 fourth overall pick Stephon Castle, and Wemby’s natural improvement coming into his second season, the Spurs should be a frisky division opponent, even if they aren’t a threat to make the playoffs. The Spurs finished 22-60 last season, second-worst in the Western Conference.

Dallas will start defending their Western Conference crown, attempting to make it back to the NBA Finals after an impressive run last season that saw the team fall short against the historically dominant Celtics in the Finals. In the last three seasons, the Mavericks have won 50 games twice, made it to the Conference Finals twice, and of course made the Finals.

In three games against the Mavericks last season, Wembanyama averaged 17.7 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 3.3 blocks per game. Dallas went 4-0 against San Antonio last season, with Wembanyama missing one of the games. Doncic averaged a triple-double in those four games against the Spurs last season, averaging 29.3 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists per game. Dallas blew out the Spurs in two of the wins, and the other two were close, fourth-quarter clutch victories, including the season-opener last season when Kyrie Irving and Doncic led the way down the stretch.