Mavericks Practice Insights: 'It's Gonna Be Fun' — Luka Dončić Details Growing Chemistry with Klay Thompson
Dončić praises chemistry with Thompson as Mavericks prepare for Spurs opener. Catch practice insights on lineup decisions, defense focus, and offensive adjustments.
DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks are set to begin their highly anticipated 2024-25 regular season campaign on Thursday, facing the San Antonio Spurs at the American Airlines Center. The Mavs hit the practice court again on Tuesday to continue the chemistry-building process with Luka Dončić and his new teammates, including Klay Thompson, after Dončić had missed all of the preseason due to a left calf contusion.
Danté Exum remains out following wrist surgery; otherwise, the Mavericks are in good shape. “Everybody else has participated and looks good,” said head coach Jason Kidd after Tuesday’s practice.
Dončić, who missed all four preseason games with a left calf contusion, is set to return for the opener. Despite his time on the sidelines, Dončić said he’s ready to return to game action and is ecstatic about the team’s current state.
“I think we’re practicing great,” Dončić said. “I’m just happy to be playing back again. We’re playing intentionally, so I think we’re ready.”
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Having participated fully in the last five practices, Dončić feels confident about his health. He acknowledged that the injury wasn’t painful but still required healing before returning to competition.
“It [didn’t] hurt a lot, but you got to get it healed,” Dončić said. “It’s fine now. It’s perfect. I’m practicing everything.”
Although Dončić acknowledged that missing the preseason games might have limited his time to build chemistry with Thompson, he remains optimistic and made clear playing with the sharpshooter is “gonna be fun out there.” He’s ready to return to game competition for a season where many consider him the preseason MVP favorite, coming off a season averaging 33.9 points, 9.8 assists, and 9.2 rebounds.
“Games are always different than practices, so we’ll see on Thursday,” Dončić added. “I’m sure there’s going to be excitement.”
After a summer of recovery and preparation after competing with the Slovenian national team at the pre-Olympic qualifying tournament in Greece, Dončić is eager to show what he can bring to the court alongside this current roster.
“We gotta show it every day,” Dončić said. “We have to show what kind of players we are and what we work for. I think we worked really hard this preseason. What people should expect is we’re going to play 100%, show who we are, and we’re going to battle every day.”
High Competition, Defensive Focus, and Setting the Tone
The competition level in recent practices has been high, and Kidd expressed satisfaction with the team’s energy. The coaching staff has consistently praised the intensity and attention to detail the team has displayed on the practice court since the preseason finale.
“The competition level has been high here at practice, and we’ve seen good carryover from what we discussed in film sessions,” Kidd said. “It’s about being competitive, and we’re excited to face San Antonio, which has improved. They’re well-coached, and they have veterans who understand what it takes to win. For our group, it’s about executing, and I think our practices have been sharp. Hopefully, we can play as well as we’ve been practicing.”
Kidd also acknowledged that building chemistry, particularly on defense, remains a work in progress as new players integrate into the team. With the Mavericks having such a dynamic array of offensive talent, the team believes they benefit from gaining defensive reps against their top players.
“Just the relationship, the chemistry, understanding we have new pieces and their tendencies,” Kidd said. “It’s going to take some time, but we believe we’re trending in the right direction here in practice. Our offense creates problems for our own defense, so if we can guard our offense, hopefully, we can guard our opponent’s. With the weapons we have here, if we can cover each other, it will only make it that much easier in the game.”
Dončić emphasized the importance of maintaining that intensity, clarifying that the Mavericks are focused on setting a strong tone early in the season. After a 26-23 record through 49 games last season, there is a clear motivation to get off to a better start to help solidify homecourt advantage in the postseason after having to overcome being the fifth seed during an NBA Finals run.
“Our goal is to set the tone early so people know we’re here. We’re not joking around,” Dončić said. “We’ve been working hard, and the new guys have shown they can really play and help us. We just need to play hard, that’s it.”
Dončić reflected on the team’s past season, acknowledging the importance of starting strong and learning from the experience of reaching the Finals. He values reflecting on what it required to get to that point to get over the hump and ultimately win his first championship in the future.
“Why not look back? We went to the NBA Finals, which is pretty unbelievable, and it’s very, very hard,” Dončić said. “Looking back at when we started, we know how hard it is to get there. Every detail matters and it’s very important that we have this mentality in the beginning.”
Uncertainty Surrounding Starting Lineup
Heading into the season opener, one of the lingering questions is who will be in the Mavericks’ starting lineup. Kidd has not revealed the final decision, which has fueled speculation over which players will get the nod. Much of the attention centers around whether Daniel Gafford or Dereck Lively II will start at center.
Kidd has experimented with different combinations during practices, and while both Gafford and Lively have shown positive signs, he has kept his plans close to the vest. “We’re still figuring it out,” Kidd said when asked about the starting lineup.
Offensive Adjustments with New and Returning Pieces
The Mavericks focus heavily on their offense as they integrate Thompson while continuing to maximize Dončić and Kyrie Irving’s skill sets. Kidd emphasized that familiar offensive sets will remain a core part of their strategy but with new wrinkles to maximize the addition of Thompson’s shooting talent.
“You’ll see some familiar sets that we’ve been successful with involving Luka and Kai,” Kidd explained. “We’ll also introduce new wrinkles, especially with Klay’s ability to move without the ball. That’s a strength we want to utilize.”
Dončić and Irving will benefit from having Thompson on the court since his shooting gravity makes teams pay for loading the paint. However, Kidd emphasized the need for the whole offense to be prepared to shoot on the catch or re-drive when teams try to take away clean looks in the corner based on the latest defensive trends.
“Just understanding what Luka and Kai can do, their ability to draw two to the ball,” Kidd said. “Last year, we generated some threes in the corner, but we expect teams to take that away. So we need to be prepared to generate threes, not just in the corner. It’s important to catch and shoot or re-drive. Hopefully, we can generate the threes we did last year, but we’re starting to see a trend of teams taking certain looks away, so we’ve got to be prepared.”
Some players have told Dallas Hoops Journal about their adjustment to learning Dončić’s rhythm and timing as a passer when they came to the Mavericks. However, Dončić believes the adjustment period with Thompson will be smooth, noting that there isn’t much of a learning curve required as one of the NBA’s greatest shooters.
“There’s not much to adjust to,” Dončić said. “If he’s open, he’s going to knock it down. It’s Klay Thompson, one of the greatest shooters ever.”
Dončić is eager to pick apart defenses based on the coverage he sees, as he has done throughout his NBA career. When he draws double teams or tries to take away the lob, the intent is that having Thompson spacing will make the defense pay even more for deciding to do either.
“Every game will be different. Sometimes they’ll double me, sometimes they won’t,” Dončić said. “Sometimes they’ll take away the lob, sometimes not. It just depends on how the defense plays us, and we’ll go from there, game to game.”
Kidd also highlighted Dončić’s improvement in catch-and-shoot situations as an essential adaptation that could strengthen their offensive diversity. Dončić took more of these shots than ever last season as he further adapted to playing with Irving. With Thompson providing more free-flowing elements to the offense, Dončić has continued to work on this area since he could get even more clean looks.
“He’s one of the best, if not the best, in the world, and he’s always improving his game,” Kidd said. “To be able to come a year ago and work on his catch and shoot, and that’s improved, just makes the game easier for the best in the world. It’s one of the conversations we’ve had with him.”
“For him, it’s about improving from what he did last year, which is a pretty high bar,” Kidd added. “But he’s the one that set it, and we believe he’s the one that can achieve those same numbers, if not better.”
Observations from Tuesday’s Practice
The Mavericks worked extensively on catch-and-shoot variations, including shooting against contests and playing out-of-shot fakes to get a cleaner look. A group consisted of Thompson, Jaden Hardy, and Quentin Grimes. These two frequently tried to get into shooting drills to learn from Thompson.
This shooting group worked on pull-up jumpers together, mixing in a motion shooting element after the first shot to also work on catch-and-shoot jumpers. There were a lot of makes between this group. While Thompson is expected to convert at a sky-high clip, given his reputation, Hardy has been impressive in his reps.
The Mavericks seem to want to play out of handoffs more this season, which will require their shooters to be consistent on quick trigger attempts. They worked on getting a shot going in either direction before shifting to the next player.
Lively continued to get in many intentional extra reps with assistant coach Sean Sweeney after practice. They’ve worked extensively on guarding actions as the big defender, seemingly emphasizing taking angles and having timing to prevent the roller from getting behind while still engaging the ball handler.
Another layer of Lively’s workout included working on his touch in the paint with both hands without bringing the ball down. When he’s in the paint outside of the restricted area, getting to a jump hook is an area he’s improved in, but it remains a focus of his ongoing development.
They also worked on finishing as a relief option when he’s finishing off a stagnant catch, mainly when the guard draws the big defender in help and doesn’t have the angle to throw a lob. This appears to be an area with room to improve.
Looking Ahead to the Opener
The Mavericks’ season tips off against the Spurs on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. CST. With Dončić, Thompson, and Irving expected to start together for the first time, it will offer a glimpse into how Dallas’ new trio can set the tone for the season.
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