Mavericks vs Jazz Preview: Dallas opens 2024 on the road in Utah

The Dallas Mavericks (19-14) conclude a three-game West Coast road trip with a game against the Utah Jazz (14-19). This is the first game of 2024 for Dallas and the game is on Bally Sports Southwest and starts at 8:00 pm. The Mavericks had off New Year’s Eve, but were in Utah, so it’ll be interesting to see if Dallas comes out sharp. Utah had off New Year’s Eve as well but had the luxury of being home the past few days. Here’s the key things to know:

• WHO: Dallas Mavericks at Utah Jazz
• WHAT: The Mavericks hope to get a win to start 2024 right
• WHERE: Delta Center, Salt Lake City, Utah
• WHEN: 8:00 pm CST
• HOW: Bally Sports Southwest

On the injury report, Maxi Kleber is the only player out for the Mavericks. Several players are listed as questionable as of this writing (3:30 pm CST): Kyrie Irving, who I do not expect to play just yet. Then there’s Seth Curry who is recovering from an illness, I’d bet he’s 50/50. Dante Exum is listed with a heel contusion, suffered late in the game against the Warriors. Luka Doncic is questionable as well with the same quad injury he’s had all year. The Jazz have a lot of their younger players out playing for their G-League affiliate, but everyone else is healthy.

This is a bit of a trap game; Utah has a lot of talented players and if they’re all healthy, they can absolutely beat the Mavericks. Dallas will have to be on point on defense to stop some of the talented scorers Utah has.

We’ll be around after the game. Thank you so much for hanging out with Mavs Moneyball to start the year. Go Mavs.