On Tuesday, Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks continued their preseason with an exhibition game against Real Madrid. Doncic coincidentally used to play for Real Madrid as a teenager, but he was only able to play for five minutes in the game for the Mavs on Tuesday as he deals with a strain to his left calf, per NBA insider Marc Stein.

Still, that didn't stop the competitor in Doncic from wanting to do more.

“I was very pissed off I couldn't play more,” said Doncic, per HoopsHype.

It's understandable that the Mavs would want to be ultra-cautious with Doncic moving forward. The Slovenian sensation has consistently ranked at or near the top in usage rate since he entered the league in 2018, and although Kyrie Irving was brought in last season to help alleviate some of that burden, Doncic still figures to be heavily relied upon to make plays for the Dallas offense in 2023-24.

The Mavs are looking to rebound after they shockingly missed out on the Play-In Tournament altogether despite having both Doncic and Irving in the fray down the stretch of last season. It's unclear just how much Dallas' Achilles heel, their defense, improved with the team's relatively few offseason transactions, but it's safe to assume that Doncic and Irving should have improved chemistry after a full offseason together.

The Mavs will be competing in what figures to be an absolutely loaded Western Conference in 2023-24, and they will begin their season on October 25 against the San Antonio Spurs. That game is slated to tip off at 9:30 PM ET.