Mavericks Practice Observations: Inside Pre-Clippers Prep, Kyrie Irving’s Team Gathering, and Key Takeaways
Dallas Mavericks prepare for the LA Clippers with key practice takeaways, Kyrie Irving’s team gathering, and injury updates ahead of Monday’s preseason game.
LOS ANGELES — On Sunday, the Dallas Mavericks held their first practice in Los Angeles after departing Texas a day earlier, marking the third consecutive day of training as they continue preparing for the regular season. The Mavericks made history as the first team to practice on the new Intuit Dome’s game court ahead of Monday’s preseason matchup against the LA Clippers.
For more detailed notes from Friday and Saturday’s practices before the team’s trip to Los Angeles, check them out on the attached links.
Now, let’s dive into the key observations from Sunday’s practice:
Observations from Sunday’s Practice
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Since this was more of a shootaround style practice, we didn’t talk with head coach Jason Kidd. It was just Dwain Price from Mavs.com and myself for Dallas-based media in attendance. There isn’t anything new regarding injury updates as a result. I did speak with A.J. Lawson about signing his two-way contract and he shared some intriguing insight into his development, how he’s already learning from Klay Thompson, studying Derrick Jones Jr., and much more. That’ll be on Sportskeeda soon.
While Luka Dončić wasn’t visible during the open viewing, he did on-court work. He participated in non-contact elements of Saturday’s practice before the team departed for Los Angeles. He won’t play on Monday against the Clippers, but Thursday against the Milwaukee Bucks appears to be a viable possibility at this stage.
The bigs worked on corner three-pointers, dribble handoffs, and the typical interior reps they usually go through during workouts. This has been a helpful development opportunity for Jamarion Sharp, the 7-foot-5 center signed to an Exhibit 10 contract, while Dereck Lively II and Daniel Gafford also work on their game.
P.J. Washington has yet to play in preseason and is expected to be sidelined against the Clippers. However, he was getting shots up and has been going through workouts as he ramps up his return to competition process. He got a lot of shots up with Jazian Gortman in spot-up shooting drills.
Over the past few practices, Maxi Kleber has mostly been in the weight room during open viewing sessions as he works his way back from a left ankle sprain. He’s missed practically all of training camp and won’t play in Los Angeles, but seems to be progressing based on him going through an on-court workout.
Klay Thompson went through shooting drills with Quentin Grimes and Jaden Hardy, both of whom have embraced learning using these opportunities. They continued to work on all kinds of variations of motion shooting, whether it was shakeups, or countering a contest by retreating into space before pulling up to shoot.
Kyrie Irving’s shooting group included Olivier-Maxence Prosper and Naji Marshall. They worked on a lot of motion shooting drills as well, but focused a lot on contested shooting—both on catch-and-shoot and pull-up jumpers. Irving is already a high level producer in these situations, but Prosper and Marshall undoubtedly have a lot of room to improve and can benefit from getting a high volume of reps.
Beyond group drills, Irving put in a lot of extra work on the court with assistant coach God Shammgod. He’s coming off a 12-point efficient performance against the Utah Jazz on Thursday, but missed his four three-point attempts. Surely, he’ll look to hit more shots from deep.
Gortman has continued to impress since his 21-point performance in the Mavericks’ preseason opener against the Memphis Grizzlies. He shoots at a high clip as a motion shooter, even whether he’s contested straightup or on a rear-view contest.
Details for Monday’s Game
While Dončić will not play against the Clippers, Irving and Thompson are expected to see a greater workload than the first-half limit they had against the Jazz. However, neither star will play a regular share of minutes. The team intends to use Thursday’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks as a “dress rehearsal.”
The Mavericks are still evaluating their point guard rotation while Danté Exum remains sidelined after undergoing wrist surgery. With Dončić not in the lineup, Jaden Hardy and Spencer Dinwiddie can play more minutes to strengthen their case for being a regular member of the rotation.
Chemistry Building in Los Angeles
Over the summer, the Mavericks strengthened their team chemistry when several players, led by Thompson, gathered in Los Angeles for casual scrimmages and time together—including a trip to Catalina Island on his boat. The team-bonding efforts continued during their Las Vegas training camp from Oct. 1-5 and will only continue in Los Angeles.
Grimes mentioned on Saturday that Irving will host the team at his home, providing a chance for the group to further build comradery.
“We’re going to Kyrie’s house tomorrow night for dinner,” Grimes said. “It’ll be fun to spend a few days together, enjoy each other’s company, and get to know each other better. We’re also focused on ironing out the kinks during the preseason and preparing for the first game of the season.”
Kidd recently praised Irving’s leadership, saying, “I think when you talk about Kai’s leadership – (he’s) soft spoken, but powerful, because of when you look at what he’s done up to this point,” Kidd explained. “He’s a champion, he’s won, everyone respects his game.”
Intuit Dome is an Incredible Venue
From what we were able to see inside Intuit Dome, it’s an incredible state-of-the-art facility—as expected for a $2 billion construction project. It’s intriguing to think about what the next wave of NBA arenas will be like, particularly the Mavericks considering the Adelson-Dumont ownership group is known for real estate.
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