Dallas Mavs vs. Brooklyn Nets Preview: Dereck Livley II to Start Alongside Luka Doncic

With Nic Claxton out for the Brooklyn Nets, Dallas Mavericks rookie big man Dereck Lively II could be in for yet another big performance.

After stating the season off with an exciting road win over the San Antonio Spurs, the Dallas Mavericks will now play their home opener against the Brooklyn Nets at American Airlines Center on Friday night.

Naturally, most of the focus will be on Kyrie Irving in this one, as the Nets traded him to the Mavs in February, and this will be his first time facing his former team. However, while Irving has motivation for a potential “revenge” game, the same can be said for Dorian Finney-Smith and Spencer Dinwiddie, who were a part of that February trade as well. Oh yeah … and don’t forget about former Mavs guard Dennis Smith Jr., who the Nets signed over the offseason.

"I was never on bad terms with the organization,” Irving said. “I think there was a lot of chaos and noise, as usual, from the media. I’m not going to blame you guys or anything. But again, nobody really knew what was going on behind the scenes.”

Despite shooting just 10-24 from the field, Kyrie Irving came up big for the Dallas Mavericks in the fourth quarter on Wednesday / Daniel Dunn-USA TODAY Sports

On the latest episode of the Mavs Step Back Podcast, we preview Dallas’ game against Brooklyn by predicting what kind of stat line we could end up seeing from Irving, why Smith plays with a little extra aggression when he sees the Mavs, and Lively potentially having an easier night with Nic Claxton out for the Nets with an ankle injury.

After coming off the bench in the season opener, Lively is set to make his first career start alongside Luka Doncic and Irving tonight according to head coach Jason Kidd.

“It was a lot more than I expected," Lively said after posting a double-double in a Mavs 126-119 opening-night win. [The Spurs] a great team. It was a great crowd. There were a lot of fans, a lot of noise, but I felt like we stuck together. We stuck to our principles and coming out with a win was a good thing. Definitely learned a lot.”

Will the AAC be as loud and energetic as it normally would be on opening night given that the Texas Rangers are opening the World Series at home around the same time? We talk about all of this, as well as several other topics from around the NBA, on today’s episode.

You can watch and listen to our entire exclusive interview with Williams below. As always, thanks for tuning in, and be sure to hit that subscribe button on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and anywhere else you get your podcasts!