Mavs Top 5 Biggest Games to Watch in 2023-24

You know a new NBA season is rapidly approaching once the regular-season schedule is released, and that's exactly what the basketball world received on Thursday.

When the schedule drops, fans begin to choose games that they'd like to attend while players and coaches start to circle noteworthy matchups to keep an eye on.

For the Dallas Mavericks, they'll play 28 nationally televised games, the seventh-most in the league, including nine on ESPN, nine on NBA TV, eight on TNT and two on ABC.

With a high number of games on national TV, that makes for a good amount of highly-anticipated matchups. Check out the Top 5 most anticipated games for the Mavs heading into the 2023-24 season:

Opening Night -- Wed, Oct. 25 @ San Antonio

The excitement that the opening night of the NBA brings is electric. For the Mavericks, they'll travel a few hours south to take on their in-state rival San Antonio Spurs with their new face of the franchise.

Victor Wembanyama, the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NBA draft, will get his first NBA action against Luka Doncic and the Mavs on what will be the first game for both teams, but on the second night of the season overall.

The fact that Wemby landed in the same conference, let alone the same division, as Doncic is pretty spectacular. If all goes as planned for these two franchises, the budding rivalry that was the Mavs-Spurs from the early-mid 2000's led by Dirk Nowitzki and Tim Duncan could just be back in its new form.

Visiting The Champs -- Fri, Nov. 3 @ Denver

Coming into a new season, the prior year's champions always have targets on their backs as the remaining 29 teams look to knock them off their throne every single night.

For Dallas, they'll get their shot against the Nuggets early on the season as the Mavs travel to Denver in just the fifth game of the year.

Though Denver is bringing back their five starters from last season's championship run, the Nuggets lost a few core pieces off their bench during the offseason. So, early on, teams may be able to steal a game from Denver while coach Michael Malone figures out his rotation.

And let's be honest here: any matchup between two superstar friends in Doncic and Nikola Jokic is always going to be must-see TV.

Christmas Day -- Mon, Dec. 25 @ Phoenix

There's few things that bring excitement like seeing your team play on Christmas Day while you open up presents and spend time with family. But, when that game is against your team's biggest rival? Oh, get the holiday assorted gourmet popcorn ready.

You can argue that the Mavs and Suns have the best rivalry in the entire league at this moment, led by their highly intense matchup in the second-round of the 2022 playoffs, which ended in Dallas absolutely trouncing the Suns in a Game 7 victory on the road.

Add in the several instances of Doncic and Devin Booker talking trash to one another, along with the addition of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to both teams, and you have a matchup made in basketball heaven.

Eastern Conference Champs -- Fri, Mar. 1 @ Boston

When it comes to playing against top competition around the league, it's always a barometer test to see where your team ranks amongst the best of the best. For Dallas, this visit to Boston will be a good, late-season test, along with old friends playing their former teams.

With the acquisition of former Mavs big man Kristaps Porzingis, the Celtics will surely have a new look. They also traded fan favorite and Dallas native Marcus Smart. On Dallas’ end, Grant Williams, who joined the Mavs via sign-and-trade this summer, will be facing off against his former team in Boston for the first time.

The Celtics have two of the best wings in the league with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. They also sport one of the better defensive rosters in the league, which will certainly pose a valuable test for the Mavericks on both ends of the floor.

Playoff Implications vs. New Look Warriors -- Tue, Apr. 2 vs. Golden State

As far as Dallas' seven games in April to close out the regular season go, this match up at home against the Golden State Warriors could deem as the most important down the stretch.

With these two teams presumed to be potential playoff teams this season, this matchup could easily have playoff-seeding implications on the line with just a few games remaining before the postseason.

For Dallas, they'll have three matchups prior to this final game against Golden State, which will help head coach Jason Kidd build the proper game plan to slow down the Warriors. Golden State’s new addition of future Hall of Famer Chris Paul, along with the usual champion trio of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green still being in tact, will challenge Dallas in a big way before the playoffs begin.

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