Mavericks 2024-25 Schedule: Top Games, Championship Odds and Record Predictions
The Dallas Mavericks ended the 2022-23 season in desperate need of more defensive and rebounding help to complement a newly formed superstar duo of Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving. After failing to even make the play-in tournament, it was time for Dallas to get to work.
General manager Nico Harrison did just that, adding key pieces including center Dereck Lively II (via the draft), Derrick Jones Jr. (in free agency) and forward P.J. Washington and big man Daniel Gafford (both in separate midseason trades).
The moves worked. For the first time since 2011, the Mavericks won the Western Conference title, surviving a gauntlet that included series wins against the Los Angeles Clippers, top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves.
Dallas' playoff run ended abruptly after a five-game loss to the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals, but the Mavericks' future is obviously bright.
As good as the Mavericks' supporting cast is, this team obviously revolves around the success of Dončić and Irving.
Dončić in particular will always keep this team competitive, and he's now a five-time All-NBA First Teamer after averaging 33.9 points, 9.8 assists and 9.2 rebounds per game last year. Irving was sensational as his co-star, posting 25.6 points, 5.2 assists and 5.0 boards an outing.
But now they have a legitimate third scoring option in Klay Thompson, a five-time All-Star and four-time NBA champion who just ended a legendary 13-year career with the Golden State Warriors. Thompson is in town on a three-year, $50 million contract and provides fantastic offensive help for Dallas' big duo.
Dallas obviously enters this season as a Western Conference title contender once again. Here's a glance at the Mavs' 2024-25 schedule, some top matchups, a season outlook and a record prediction.
2024-25 Mavericks Schedule Details
Season Opener: vs. San Antonio Spurs, Thursday Oct, 24 7:30 p.m. ET.
Championship Odds: 10-1 ($100 bet wins $1,000), per FanDuel
Full Schedule: The full schedule is available on NBA.com.
Top Matchups
Boston Celtics
Simply put, Dallas struggled mightily against Boston, whose four NBA Finals wins came by an average of 12.5 points per game. Obviously, the Mavericks would like some revenge against the Celtics, and those matchups will also serve as a great test to see where Dallas is at against the NBA's elite. The Celtics will roll into the season as the clear championship favorites once again after returning their core, so this should be the Mavericks' toughest test on paper.
Golden State Warriors
This one is no surprise. Thompson will face off against his old team in matchups that will certainly be emotional for both sides. Thompson was teammates with Stephen Curry for all 13 of his seasons and Draymond Green for the final 12. His head coach for 10 years, Steve Kerr, is still calling shots on the sidelines.
Watching Thompson in a Mavericks uniform against the Warriors will be a bewildering experience after seeing the Splash brother light it up on Golden State for so long.
Denver Nuggets
Every game against the Western Conference's top title contenders will be a huge matchup, but out of those teams, the Denver Nuggets are the one to watch the most.
For starters, these games will feature two of the best (if not the best) NBA players in Dončić and Nuggets big man Nikola Jokić. But this will be a great litmus test for Dallas, which did not fare well against Denver last year, losing two of three games by a combined 37 points.
The addition of Thompson could very well be the key for Dallas to overtake Denver, a deep scoring team which featured four players scoring 13.9 or more points per game in Jokić, Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr. and Aaron Gordon. These games could very well determine the Western Conference's top seed as well.
Season Forecast
The Mavs know what they are going to get out of Dončić and Irving. And it's not out of the realm of possibility that Lively develops into a All-Defensive Team player. Couple all that with Washington's success on both ends and Gafford bringing incredible energy, and you have the recipe for a team that should comfortably make the playoffs.
The X-factor is Thompson. The fact that Thompson has even played the last three years is incredible enough after he missed two whole seasons with a torn ACL and then a ruptured Achilles.
But there's also the possibility that his career is in decline. Per Basketball-Reference, Thompson's last two seasons have been the worst defensive campaigns of his career. Over the past three years, Thompson has shot 43.3 percent from the field and 39.7 percent from three, under his usual averages (45.3 percent, 41.3 percent).
On the flip side, he's a tremendous player at his peak and should be a Hall of Famer someday. Playing next to Dončić and Irving could also give him plenty of wide-open three-point opportunities, and a change-in-scenery could absolutely revitalize his career. The pressure isn't on him to help carry the offense as the de-facto third scoring option either.
Ultimately, the guess here is that Thompson works out in Dallas. The issue is that the Mavs have so much competition in the West. The 57-win Thunder got better with Alex Caruso now aboard. The 56-win Timberwolves got better with a potential Rookie of the Year in Rob Dillingham. The 57-win Nuggets, who need more depth, got more help with Russell Westbrook. And then you have some couple potential risers with the New Orleans Pelicans and Sacramento Kings looking better on paper too after adding Dejounte Murray and DeMar DeRozan, respectively.
But the Mavs still have one of the game's greats in Dončić. It's hard seeing this team do any worse than last year because of him, but the road to the top (at least in the regular season) might be too tough to traverse.
Record Prediction: 51-31, 5th in West
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