The Dallas Mavericks are set to kick off their 2025-26 regular season as questions continue to loom about the team’s starting five.
Dallas opened the preseason with a lineup consisting of D’Angelo Russell, Klay Thompson, Cooper Flagg, Anthony Davis, and Dereck Lively; however, that lineup shifted over the team’s final preseason games.
Mavericks Head Coach Jason Kidd opted to use that starting lineup for the first two preseason games of the year, yet he made one potentially meaningful change to this lineup to end the preseason.
Kidd began utilizing a lineup that consisted of Flagg, Thompson, Davis, Lively, and forward P.J. Washington rather than Russell.
Although one of these lineup changes came due to Russell not playing in a game, Kidd chose to keep this starting lineup intact for the Mavericks’ final preseason matchup.
These lineup changes beg the question of whether Kidd plans to use Flagg as the team’s starting point guard to begin the 2025-26 regular season.
When asked about this possibility, Kidd said the team has “some time to make a decision” and that every option was on the table, though he remained uncommitted to any specific lineup.
“He’s got to keep an index of who got shots, what was the last shot, and that’ll come with reps,” Kidd said, per ESPN.
“But I think [Flagg] has done an incredible job of handling the situation of running the team. And the other thing that I think that is going unnoticed is that his teammates enjoy him running the team.”
Flagg was straightforward when asked about playing point guard, saying he is happy to do whatever the team needs to win games consistently.
“I’m just coming in and trying to win, doing everything I can to be successful and to help my teammates be in great positions to win,” Flagg said, according to The Dallas Morning News. “So it doesn’t matter if I’m starting or coming off the bench. For me, it’s all about winning.”
While Flagg playing point guard may not be the best scenario for Dallas to begin the year, it might be the only option this team has as it looks to find an offensive spark early in the regular season.
Dallas is likely going to rely on Flagg, Russell, and Washington as the main ballhandlers for the majority of the regular season, as guard Kyrie Irving is expected to miss the majority of the season as he recovers from a torn ACL.
The Mavericks are currently set to open the regular season with a matchup against the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m., followed by games against the Washington Wizards and Toronto Raptors over the weekend.