DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks fell to 0-2 to begin the 2025-26 season with a 117-107 loss to the Washington Wizards on Friday night. Dallas entered the game with high expectations, as Washington is expected to struggle this year. However, the Mavericks' defense failed to find a rhythm while the offense turned the ball over 21 times. D'Angelo Russell seems like an obvious candidate to earn more minutes as the Mavs struggle with taking care of the ball, yet he only received 8:30 of playing time on Friday night.
“I think the group that got us back in the game was the group we were gonna go with,” Kidd said after not playing Russell in the second half. “He wasn’t part of that.”
The Mavs signed Russell during the offseason. Russell was seemingly going to help replace Kyrie Irving at point guard, as Irving is not expected to return until early 2026 as he recovers from ACL surgery. Yet, Kidd has been hesitant to fully commit to Russell.
There was a chance that the veteran was going to start at point guard to begin the 2025-26 campaign. On opening night, however, the Mavs started rookie Cooper Flagg at the position. The same thing happened on Friday. The immediate assumption was that Russell would play a significant role off the bench — but that hasn't been the case.
Play-making and ball movement has been a problem without question for the Mavericks. The turnovers only make things worse. The Mavs' defensive woes should work themselves out — Dallas features a potential top 10 defense in the NBA. If the offense can't create scoring opportunities, though, it will be a long season regardless of how the defense performs.
D'Angelo Russell deserves an opportunity to play more. At this point, it's beginning to look like a necessity.
The Mavericks' next game will be played on Sunday night against the Toronto Raptors. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 PM EST at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
