After an offseason in which the Mavericks bolstered their roster in an attempt to make another deep run, it was finally time to witness the regular season debuts of new players and familiar faces. Klay Thompson, Quentin Grimes, Spencer Dinwiddie and Naji Marshall were among the usual suspects in their season and home opener against the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night, which Dallas won 120-109.

Almost a year ago to the day, the Mavericks spoiled Victor Wembanyama’s NBA debut and ultimately won the season series against their division rival. The Spurs took on veteran leadership in the offseason with new additions Chris Paul and former Mav Harrison Barnes, but it wasn’t enough to defeat the Mavericks this season.

It’s time to summarize and evaluate each player’s performance, but since this is the first part of a recurring series, we need to lay down the basic ground rules.

• Grades will be awarded to all Mavericks players who logged meaningful playing time/stats.
• The rating system uses an alphabetical scale of: D, C-, C, C+, B-, B, B+, A-, A, A+ (for those who prefer a numerical scale you will find this convenient to use Ten letter grades on a scale of 1 to 10 if you like – we love math people too.
• There is no F grade. It would undermine credibility to label anyone capable of making the NBA roster a “failure,” no matter how bad the game they played was.
• Players are generally ranked according to scale. In other words, a Luka A+ will look different than a Dwight Powell A+ for obvious reasons.
• If a player logged mostly unnecessary time and had little or no stats, he will not be included or will otherwise be given a “N/A” instead of a grade.

Without further ado, here are your Dallas Mavericks grades after the season opener.

Luka Doncic

Luka didn’t play in the preseason and that was clearly visible. His legs weren’t underneath him, his rhythm had yet to establish itself and his shots suffered as a result. Going 9-for-25 from the field and 4-for-11 from three wasn’t pretty, but he was still just two assists shy of a triple-double. 10 rebounds, 1 block and 1 steal were nice to see while the shot was coming, but 4 turnovers further underlined the idea that the best Luka is yet to come. Still, leading all scorers on a “bad” night is pretty impressive, and he played a key role in the 12-0 second half run. Luka will likely prove to be one of the most difficult players to evaluate from game to game as he operates on a completely different scale than most players. Tonight was a perfect example. He wasn’t his best player, but literally hundreds of players around the league would love to have his stats from that game.

Grade: B+

Kyrie Irving

Irving showed similar shooting problems to Luka and even had a worse overall hit rate, albeit with fewer shots. However, he shot very well from three (42.9%). He also had 2 steals, 1 block and 0 turnovers. In an otherwise mundane game by his standards, Kyrie had two very memorable defensive plays. The first time was when he chased Tre Jones all over the court and eventually forced a turnover. The second was when he got a steal, tripped, went to the ground and still made a nice pass from behind.

Grade: B

Klay Thompson

Thompson was the game’s second-leading scorer with 22, behind only Luka (28). He seemed completely calm on offense and let the game take its toll. He seemed fixated on defense, like he was on a mission to prove something. In addition to his 22 points, there were 7 rebounds and 3 steals. He also hit 6 of 10 three-pointers, tying the Mavericks record for three-pointers made in a player’s debut. I didn’t expect to give top marks too often, especially in the first game of the season, but Thompson’s performance tonight was magical and when you break a record like he did, you get flowers.

Grade: A+

PJ Washington

Washington had a quiet, solid night. Like most of the team, his shooting left a lot to be desired, but he still dropped 11 points with 6 boards, 2 assists and 1 steal. Aside from a shooting percentage that we would all like to see a little higher, he did what the team asked of him in relatively few minutes (26). The fact that he received an insane Luka reverse pass behind his head that evening to convert one of two three-pointers made also brings some bonus points.

Grade: B+

Dereck Lively II

Although it wasn’t the dunk fest we were used to, Lively was great off the bench tonight. He hit 6 of 8 shots for 15 points, had 11 rebounds (4 offensive) and an impressive 6 assists. If you could find something to complain about on his stat line, it would be the lack of blocks. Regardless, he was extremely efficient for 27 minutes of play and it’s fair to say he came out on top in an overall comparison against Wembanyama tonight.

Grade: A

Naji Marshall

Marshall was on the battle bus for his Mavericks debut. He hit just 1 of 6 shots and had 1 rebound and 3 assists. Aside from his shots, he didn’t do anything particularly bad, but he didn’t really contribute much to the overall success as he was a minus-7 for the game. An unsung bright spot is his ability to bring the ball up and direct the offense a bit, giving both Luka and Kyrie a break.

Grade: C

Quentin Grimes

Grimes, another new face, had eerily similar stats to Marshall, except he had 0 assists. His plus/minus at plus-11 was significantly better than Marshall’s, but otherwise it was an unremarkable evening for the rookie.

Grade: C+

Daniel Gafford

Gafford did what Gafford does. As a starting player, he brought energy and intensity with 9 points and 6 rebounds in just 18 minutes of play. His 50% from the field seems underachieving for his high standards, but otherwise he had a nice evening. If he continues to log backup minutes and achieve this level of production, no one will complain. He had a few too many fouls (5), but was in the right spots all night and played his role well. He treated us to a feast for the eyes with a nice dunk and calmly threw two free throws that he earned after surviving a flagrant 1.

Grade: B+

Maxi glue

Kleber didn’t get much of a hit, but much like Gafford, he did everything he was supposed to do during the game. Although his stats don’t stand out, he leads all players in plus-minus with a +18 despite only playing 15 minutes. He made a nice three-pointer and grabbed four rebounds. In the highlight reel, he had an amazing block that appeared practically out of nowhere and denied the Spurs two points on the scoreboard.

Grade: B+

Jaden Hardy

Not long ago I picked Jaden Hardy as my X-factor, and he seemed eager to prove me right, at least for one night. Hardy showed off his microwave scoring ability by knocking down 50% of his shots, with all three of his shots coming from three-pointers. He also hit both free throws en route to 11 points. His two assists were canceled out by two turnovers, but at least he showed he cares about more than just scoring. He also added a block for security. Overall it was a very nice game for him.

Grade: B+

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