Dallas Mavericks: How to watch the preseason opener vs. Oklahoma City Thunder

Dallas Mavericks basketball is here. They face the Oklahoma City Thunder on Oct. 8 in Tulsa. Here everything fans need to know before enjoying the game.

The Dallas Mavericks are embarking on a new season. Dirk Nowitzki is officially retired. The Mavs are beginning a new era with the team built around Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis.

The star duo will see their first game action on Tuesday. The Mavericks have their preseason opener against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Tulsa. Here is a look at how to watch and what fans need to know about the contest.

Start Time

The game inside the BOK Center begins at 7:00 p.m. local time in Dallas or 8:00 p.m. ET.

How to watch

The Mavericks get in their first national television game of the season too. ESPN is carrying the action on Tuesday.

Watch online

There are a plethora of avenues to watch the game online. Watch ESPN or the ESPN app will have the broadcast. Fans can check out Fubo.TV for all the local and out of market Mavericks action this season. Mavs.com is streaming the preseason contest too.

Injury update

Dallas’ preseason strangely begins with a back-to-back. They travel to Detroit to play the Pistons on Wednesday. The Mavs have a Friday home tilt against the Milwaukee Bucks too. Expect Coach Carlisle to be careful with plenty of players because of the three games in four nights. Here is what we know as of Tuesday morning.

Kristaps Porzingis is only going to play in one game of the back-to-back. My guess is Dallas unleashes him against the Thunder on national TV. That means he would miss Wednesday vs. the Pistons. No word on that yet.

Dwight Powell (hamstring) and J.J. Barea (load management) are not on the road trip. Both players will miss the entire back-to-back. Barea is planning on playing on Friday. There is still no word on the severity of Powell’s injury.

Starters?

The Dallas Mavericks released their Game Notes for Tuesday’s game. It lists the probable starting five as Luka Doncic, Kristaps Porzingis, Delon Wright, Maxi Kleber, and Justin Jackson. Coach Carlisle did not confirm that, though.

That would be different than what fans saw at the open practice. Jackson would be replacing Dorian Finney-Smith in the starting unit. Fans should keep an eye on which player gets the nod in Tulsa.

Storyline to follow: Luka to KP

Mavericks supporters have waited over eight months to see Kristaps Porzingis suit up wearing their uniform. The trade went down on Jan. 31, but Porzingis was still recovering from his torn ACL. The Mavs new star duo is ready to put on a show and take the league by storm this season.

Expect Dallas to begin the game with a pick and pop between the two. It resulted in a bucket to start the scrimmage on Sunday.

The duo will create matchup problems for the new-look Thunder. Expect Danilo Gallinari to be guarding Porzingis and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to draw Luka. Both matchups favor Dallas and could mean plenty of buckets from the Mavericks’ stars.

Dallas Mavericks fans should tune in to the game on Tuesday night. It is their first chance to see Kristaps Porzingis play for the team. The Smoking Cuban will be here with the takeaways and analysis after the contest, so please check back with us.