Three takeaways as Mavericks starters struggle in preseason loss to Hornets

The Dallas Mavericks hosted the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday night for their only preseason game in the American Airlines Center. Jason Kidd said he planned to play the starters into the third quarter after pulling them at halftime in the first game against the OKC Thunder, and he did roll out the same starting lineup as last time.

Unfortunately, those starters found themselves down 30-13 about six minutes into the game, as the Hornets seemingly couldn't miss from three, making six of their first eight. A 16-0 run would get them back in the game, but it was definitely an alarming start.

The Hornets would go on to win 120-116, as the Mavs' reserves made a late rally. Here are three takeaways from the game.

Maybe Dereck Lively II Shouldn't Shoot Threes

We've heard since the Mavericks drafted him that Dereck Lively II had the ability to take and make threes. Through his first two seasons, we didn't get to see a lot of that, but he did make one in Game 4 of the NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics.

In the build-up to the season, it was stated by the Mavericks that they plan to let Lively shoot more this season. We got our first look at that in this preseason game, as the Hornets were sagging far off from him. And let's just say the result was far from pretty.

Lively was wide open around the left lane-line extended at the top of the key, and his shot hit the backboard before clanking off the rim. So, let's maybe wait on that?

Oct 6, 2025; Fort Worth, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks center Dereck Lively II (2) celebrates after he dunks the ball during the game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Oklahoma City Thunder at Dickie's Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Will Smaller Power Forwards Give the Mavericks Issues?

Miles Bridges had enough success in this game that this is a fair question to consider. He's only 6'7", which is small for a power forward, but he had 13 points in the first 6 1/2 minutes of the game, knocking down three shots from beyond the arc. Bridges has had some big games against the Mavs, but there is a reason to keep an eye on this.

Anthony Davis is dead set on playing power forward this year, which should work against teams like the Houston Rockets or Cleveland Cavaliers, who have bigger power forwards. But when teams with smaller 4s are able to get switches off of him, we could see more games like we saw here, where the perimeter defense gets shredded for a while.

Kon Knueppel Doesn't Look the Part

Cooper Flagg had a great game, once again, as he finished with 11 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals. He did have a concerning number of turnovers (five), but he looked great overall. His Duke teammate, however, struggled.

Kon Knueppel had some points in the fourth quarter to make his overall stats seem more respectable, but in the first three quarters, his shot looked off, he didn't hold up athletically, had a few bad turnovers, and he struggled overall.

It's early in the preseason, so we're not going to overreact, but it started this way in the Summer League, too, before he eventually bounced back near the end of it.

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