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Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama struggles with Klay Thompson, new-look Mavericks in season-opening loss

Posted on by Nargang
Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama struggles with Klay Thompson, new-look Mavericks in season-opening loss

DALLAS – Klay Thompson sat to answer questions after his record-setting performance Thursday, diving into his feelings of gratitude and the outlook on a long season ahead, even after all those three seconds.

He folded a stat sheet into a paper airplane as he spoke, stood up on the dais and glided the plane past the rows of reporters to the cameras at the back of the room.

Yes, Thompson still has it and his first real game with Dallas Mavericks it couldn’t have gone much better. The beginning to San Antonio Spurs star Victor WembanyamaHis second professional season, on the other hand, was not so good.

Thompson, co-author of the Splash Brothers dynasty with Golden State Warriorshit six 3-pointers with his new team in a 120-109 Mavericks win over the Spurs, a team-high for 3-pointers in a Dallas debut.

“My feelings were a lot of nerves, anxiety, for a few minutes,” Thompson said. “It’s great to see someone come through and it was a great debut. It’s only one game in October, but it feels good just to get the first one out of the way. And setting a record is always a great feeling, something I’ll never take for granted.”

Thompson, 34, joined the Mavs on o three-year, $50 million contract as part of a six-team sign-and-trade deal after 13 seasons, five All-Star appearances and six trips to the Finals with the Warriors. He finished Game 1 for the Mavs with 22 points and seven rebounds, connecting on 7-of-13 from the field, including those half-dozen 3s.

His only 2-pointer of the night came on his first shot, one of his famous pump fakes from the 3-point line up the middle for a jumper.

After struggling to shoot in a 4-1 series loss to the team Boston Celtics In previous NBA Finals, adding a shooter of Thompson’s caliber has been Dallas’ top priority. There are only 81 games and two playoff months left until we see if the plan produces the team’s desired goal, but the first step inside American Airlines Arena on Thursday was a positive one.

Thompson is a career 41 percent shooter from 3-point range, has the fourth-most three-pointers in NBA history, and as recently as 2023, he led the league in hitting in three seconds in a single season. His first 3 as a Maverick – a passing bomb in the corner that we saw countless times during his decade of glory with the Warriors – came on a pass from Luka Doncic.

“Luka, what an incredible talent,” Thompson said. “It doesn’t make any sense because what we’ve been taught when we’re the best in basketball, you’ve got to jump the highest, run the fastest. Somehow Luka defies this; he plays with his speed and does it as well as anyone I’ve ever seen do it. It’s great to be a beneficiary of that and look great and hopefully we can lift each other’s games and our team.”

Dončić led defending Western Conference champion Dallas with 28 points, while Wembanyama shot just 5-of-18 for 17 points in the loss to the Spurs.

Thursday night marked the first time Thompson, Dončić and Kyrie Irving they played together because Dončić did not appear in any of Dallas’ preseason games.

“Playing with (Thompson) makes my life easier,” Dončić said.

Dončić is a perennial MVP candidate with the Mavs, and while he had a typical stat game (10 rebounds and eight assists), he struggled on 9-of-25 shooting. He looked exasperated as he shrugged and bemoaned the missed shots early on – not only had he not played in the preseason, but he hadn’t played competitively since an Olympic qualifier for Slovenia just after the final.

“I played terrible,” Dončić said with a smile as he discussed the visible effort he put in defensively.

Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said the game, in which his team trailed at the half, turned around with Dončić, Irving and Thompson playing full-court defensively, leading to steals and transition baskets.

Irving added 15 points on 6-of-17 shooting and Derek Lively II had a monster game off the bench with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

Wembanyama, the 7-foot-4 French sensation and Rookie of the Year, added nine boards and one block to his total. He missed multiple layups and tape-ins at the rim, was 3-of-16 at one point from the floor and finished the game just 1-of-8 from 3-point range.

The Mavericks appeared to throw more defenders at Wembanyama and pushed him out of position when he caught the ball with his back to the basket. Wembanyama has played just 17 minutes in two preseason games and said conditioning was an issue for him Thursday.

“Neither of us has played a full game since midsummer for me (at olympics),” Wembanyama said. “It makes sense, but it’s a struggle every NBA player goes through. It will take one or two games (to get fit); it should be fast. … Conditioning is not really an excuse (for missed shots).”

Kidd said, “We were just trying to keep him as far away from the paint as possible.”

Wembanyama struggled the most in his season debut last year as a rookie against the all-team Mavs, when he scored just six points and had five fouls through three quarters. He put it all together in short order and went on to lead all rookies in scoring (21.4), rebounding (10.6) and blocks (3.6) per game in 71 games for the Spurs.

He was also the best shot blocker in the league, joining Manute Bol as the only rookies to lead the NBA in blocks.

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Wembanyama became the first player in league history to score at least 1,500 points (1,522), grab 700 rebounds (755), dish out 250 assists (274) and block 250 shots (254) while made at least 100 3s (128) in a season.

The Spurs opened last season as the youngest team in the NBA and finished with 22 wins. They took the floor as a much older group thanks to their offseason acquisitions Harrison Barnes (who won a championship with Thompson and the Warriors in 2015) and Chris Paul. Barnes connected on his first five shots and finished with 17 points, while Paul added three points, seven boards and eight assists in his Spurs debut.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich pulled all his starters midway through the fourth quarter with the team down 17.

Before Thursday’s game, Popovich was asked for his reaction to the offseason news that the Mavericks, coming off a trip to the Finals, had acquired Thompson.

“Oh my God. How the hell did they do that?” Popovich said. “I was probably having a glass of wine somewhere and it ruined my whole night.”

Thursday night didn’t go much better, and Thompson was the main reason.

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(Photo: Jerome Miron / Imagn Images)