Chet Holmgren's Thunder Take Down Mavs in Las Vegas Summer League Opener

The Mavs fell short in their Summer League opener against Chet Holmgren and the Thunder. The game marked Dallas' rookies first performance.

LAS VEGAS — To open their Las Vegas Summer League schedule, the Dallas Mavericks took on a challenging Oklahoma City Thunder opponent that featured standouts like Chet Holmgren, Jaylin Williams, and Cason Wallace. Despite the Mavs' own young players showing some flashes, the Thunder ultimately managed to win, 91-80.

Both teams struggled to get much going offensively in the first quarter, combining for just 33 points. The Thunder held used a blistering hot 3-point shooting display in the second quarter to score 30 points, resulting in a 48-42 halftime lead. Oklahoma City shot a staggering 12-22 (54.5 percent) from deep in the first two quarter, while the Mavs were contained to just 5-14 (35.7 percent) on their attempts. 

After Jaden Hardy converted a step-back 3 at the 4:24 mark of the third quarter, the Mavs had regained a brief 56-53 lead. The Thunder outscored Dallas 13-8 for the remainder of the period and never lost the lead from that point on. Oklahoma City managed to build a lead as large as 14 midway through the final period. It was a struggle to find reliable creation outside of the second-year guard. 

Hardy proved to be the Mavs' top standout, with 24 points, six rebounds, two steals, and three turnovers in 31 minutes. He took 12 of 18 shot attempts from beyond the arc. The only other Mavs player to reach double-figures scoring was A.J. Lawson, who totaled 11 points, four rebounds, and three steals. 

"Hardy I thought was pretty good," Summer Mavs coach Jared Dudley said. "He could have made a couple extra passes though on some of his ones instead of that challenging Chet."

The Mavs got their first look at rookies Dereck Lively II and Olivier-Maxence Prosper just one day after their first full practice day. Both players were unable to participate in contact portions of practice until the draft night trades they were included in became official, which did not happen until July 6. 

Due to receiving limited practice time, both Lively and Prosper received limited playing time in what was an "organizational" decision. Lively recorded four points and five rebounds in 16 minutes, while Prosper finished with seven points in 17 minutes.

"We wanted to build it up, only having one practice," Dudley said. "Their minutes will go up every single game. They're not gonna be playing 16, 17 minutes. So that was an organizational thing that we decided to go to. Expect their minutes to be in the twenties at least this next game, 24, 28, and they'll be playing by games four and five big, big minutes."

The Thunder often held control of the game and led by as many as 14 points. It proved challenging for the Mavs to stay competitive when subbing out key starters, particularly Dereck Lively II and Olivier-Maxence Prosper. Both players were integral in the team's paint defense and rebounding.

A hot shooting performance proved instrumental in the Thunder's execution, finishing shooting 19-43 (44.2 percent) from deep; compared to the Mavs' 9-31 (29.0 percent) results. A 30-point differential as a result of perimeter shooting proved challenging to overcome. Dallas' focus was to protect the paint, but was made to pay for it.

"They hit 19 3s. One of them hit off the bank. Our goal goes to protect the paint. I thought the majority of them were the shots that we wanted in the shoot," Dudley said. "A couple wanted to hit the three threes and one in the corner, one in the wing where it's not contested — messing up our switching. That's definitely deflating."

It was challenging for the Mavs to contain Chet Holmgren due to his combination of size, shooting ability, and threat to put the ball on the floor. He finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds, and three assists. When Lively wasn't on the floor, Dallas lacked size to contain him on the boards.

"I just thought defensively because Chet was a problem, their pick-and-pop game with him going to the five," Dudley said. "You can tell that team is a well-oiled machine with having experience."

Wallace, who was technically drafted by the Mavs before being traded to the Thunder on draft night, impressed with 20 points on six made 3s. Ousmane Dieng and Tre Mann each reached double-figures scoring as well, with Dieng recording 13 and Mann totaling 11. 

The Mavs' defense was significantly more impactful with Lively and Prosper in the frontcourt since they had the necessary size and athleticism to handle guarding actions involving a stretch big. There was more dribble containment and rim deterrence as a result. Even with that, there were times overthinking occurred, but that was to be expected with only one full practice for the rookies.  

"In the NBA, it's hard [on defense]. It's hard logical schemes," Dudley said. "We're running it, switching it, we're at the nail, our X outs. I think that anytime you have one practice for him to be able get thrown the fire, he's probably thinking a hundred different things."

"We got practice tomorrow he get some more reps and right back in on Monday," Dudley explained.

The Thunder, on the other hand, were not short on continuity as they played three games prior as they had participated in the 2023 Salt Lake City Summer League session. Oklahoma City did not have Jalen Williams play after his impressive play before Las Vegas was already enough to see.

The Mavs' will next take on the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday with a 7:00 p.m. CT tipoff time.

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Grant Afseth is a Dallas Mavericks reporter for DallasBasketball.com and an NBA reporter for NBA Analysis Network. He previously covered the Indiana Pacers and NBA for CNHI's Kokomo Tribune and various NBA teams for USA TODAY Sports Media Group. Follow him on Twitter (@grantafseth), Facebook (@grantgafseth), and YouTube (@grantafseth).

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