Three things to watch as Mavericks face Jazz in preseason

The Dallas Mavericks will play their third preseason game on Monday night, as they're in Salt Lake City to take on the Utah Jazz. They lost their most recent game against the Charlotte Hornets, letting them get out to an early 30-13 lead before the Mavs rallied back, but there's still a lot of work to do before the regular season starts next week.

Here are three things to watch for the first "road" game for Cooper Flagg in the NBA.

Will Anthony Davis Look More Settled In?

It has only been two preseason games, but the early returns of Anthony Davis playing at power forward have been disheartening, to say the least. It doesn't help that a frontcourt lineup that featured PJ Washington, Cooper Flagg, and Dereck Lively II looked dominant, while any lineup with Davis HEAVILY struggled.

Davis was a game low -24 in 24 minutes, getting outscored by a point for every minute he was on the floor. There were already doubts on how this team would fit together with Davis playing power forward, and they need to figure it out before the regular season starts.

Sep 29, 2025; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Mavericks forward Anthony Davis (3) poses for a photo during the Mavericks 2025 media day at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Can Cooper Flagg Start Strong?

Cooper Flagg has had some outstanding second quarters to start the preseason, but his first quarters have been a little quiet. He thinks that's part of the reason why Anthony Davis has struggled so far. Flagg had an impressive sequence to start the second quarter against the Hornets, which helped give the Mavs the lead, but they'd like to get off to a better start.

Flagg looks every bit the part of a good NBA player already, not just an NBA rookie. He's still figuring out how to best fit into the offense, but Jason Kidd also needs to let the young man eat.

Ace Bailey

No prospect in the 2025 NBA Draft had a weirder pre-draft process than Ace Bailey, who didn't do ANY pre-draft workouts in hopes that he would slide to 6th for the Washington Wizards, which has to be the only time anyone has ever wanted to go there. Bailey already had some concerns about his game, too, as draft analysts didn't love his shot diet.

Bailey has been electric in the preseason, though, averaging 22.5 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 2.0 APG, and 2.0 SPG. He'll likely see a lot of Cooper Flagg in this game, so we'll see if he can keep those numbers up.