1 player who can solve the Mavericks’ big problem when Jason Kidd drops him
DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks fell to 0-2 to start the 2025-26 season with a 117-107 loss to the Washington Wizards on Friday night. Dallas entered the game with high expectations, as Washington is expected to struggle this year. However, the Mavericks defense couldn’t find a rhythm as the offense turned the ball over 21 times. D’Angelo Russell seems like an obvious candidate to earn more minutes as the Mavs struggle with the ball, yet he only got 8:30 of playing time Friday night.
“I think the group that got us back in the game was the group we’re going to go with,” Kidd said after not playing Russell in the second half. “He wasn’t part of it.”
The The Mavs signed Russell during the offseason. Russell was apparently supposed to help replace Kyrie Irving at the point guard position, as Irving is not expected to return until early 2026 as he recovers from ACL surgery. Still, Kidd was hesitant to fully commit to Russell.
There was a chance the veteran would start at point guard to begin the 2025-26 campaign. However, on night one, the Mavs started rookie Cooper Flagg at the position. The same thing happened on Friday. The immediate assumption was that Russell would play a significant role off the bench – but that was not the case.
Playmaking and ball movement were undoubtedly a problem for the Mavericks. Traffic just makes things worse. The Mavs’ defensive issues should take care of themselves – Dallas has a potential top-10 defense in the NBA. However, if the offense can’t create scoring opportunities, it’s going to be a long season, regardless of how the defense performs.
D’Angelo Russell deserves a chance to play more. At this point, it’s starting to look like a necessity.
The Mavericks next game is Sunday night against the Toronto Raptors. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 PM EST at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
2025-10-25 04:11:00
