Mavericks already miles ahead of everyone to begin season thanks to key factor

With only one day until the Dallas Mavericks officially take the court in a game that matters, everything that has happened in Dallas over this past summer, training camp, and preseason has been shaping this Mavericks squad up to avenge their NBA Finals loss last season.

Dallas's first game of their season will be against the San Antonio Spurs, which will feature Victor Wembanyama's first game of his second season as well. Needless to say, it will be an electric atmosphere inside the American Airlines Center on Thursday evening, as there are a lot of compelling narratives to follow in the contest.

There will be plenty of players making their debut for the Mavericks as well, such as Klay Thompson, Naji Marshall, and Quentin Grimes. With the Mavericks swapping out many key pieces from last year's squad, it's likely that the Mavericks may take some time to get fully acclimated with one another before this team reaches its true potential, and head coach Jason Kidd will need to tinker with the rotation until it reaches its pinnacle.

However, one thing the Mavericks won't have to worry about come Thursday evening is their health, as the Mavericks are projected to be fully healthy barring guard Dante Exum, who is out with a wrist injury.

Mavericks' health is superior to many others in the West early on

While this may not seem like a significant takeaway given this is the start of the regular season, the Mavericks being fully healthy gives them a decent advantage against plenty of other Western Conference foes who are not as fortunate at this juncture of the season.

Just within the Southwest Division, there are a fair chunk of players who are already set to miss their regular season debuts and potentially much longer in some other cases. For instance, the Spurs will be without young guard Devin Vassell when they take on Dallas tomorrow, as Vassell projects to miss at least a week with a foot injury.

The same can be said for newly-extended New Orleans Pelicans forward Trey Murphy III, who is set to miss the start of the season as well with a hamstring injury. After an injury-riddled season last year, another rival for Dallas in the Memphis Grizzlies is far from fully healthy to start the season, as they'll be without Jaren Jackson Jr., Vince Williams, GG Jackson II, and Luke Kennard when they start their regular season tonight.

Some non-division opponents in the Western Conference that Dallas played against last season in the playoffs are already having their fair share of run-ins with the injury bug as well. The Oklahoma City Thunder will be without new free agent center Isaiah Hartenstein to start the season, and LA Clippers' star Kawhi Leonard is projected to miss an indefinite amount of time with knee inflammation to start the season.

By no means is the injury landscape in the Western Conference so rocky that the Mavericks will have an easy path to a top-four seed in the West or a great playoff run, as it's way too early to determine how things are going to play out this regular season anyway. However, other teams being hampered to start the season is something that the Mavericks can take clear advantage of.

Dallas' only injured player in Exum isn't a crucial part of Dallas' rotation when healthy, even though he's certainly a luxury to have, whereas some other teams in the conference are missing stars or high-level role players at the beginning of the 2024-25 season. There's a clear opportunity for the Mavericks to knock off some wins early on in the season because of this, but only time will tell if that ends up being the case.