Mavericks' season may have just turned magical before it even begins

The Dallas Mavericks' 2025-26 season kicks off this evening against the San Antonio Spurs at the American Airlines Center, and a rare occurrence from shootaround this morning could've just indicated that a great season is on the way.

Assistant coach Keith Veney shoots a half-court shot in front of the entire team at the end of every morning shootaround, and this morning he finally made it. Veney is entering his third season as an assistant coach for Dallas, and this morning was the first time that he has ever drilled his iconic half-court heave.

Other Mavericks players and coaches participate in this end-of-shootaround tradition, commonly making these half-court shots, and Veney joined the club on Wednesday.

Mavericks kick off season with pure magic

The entire team always makes a massive circle around Veney as he shoots this shot, often rubbing his head and hyping him up, but today was different as he made the shot and sent the team into a state of pandemonium.

The Mavericks players were ecstatic for the beloved, fun-loving coach, as D'Angelo Russell and multiple Mavs staffers chased him up the stairs of section 120 of the American Airlines Center lower bowl in celebration of the iconic moment. The vibes in Dallas are through the roof ahead of the season opener tonight, and luck may just be on their side as they begin their 45th season in franchise history.

The same can't be said about last season, as the Mavericks had one of the most bizarre injury curses that the organization has ever seen, and anything that could possibly go wrong did go wrong following the Luka Doncic trade. Dallas' 2024-25 season went much worse than anyone could've imagined after seeing them reach the 2024 NBA Finals, but everything changed this spring.

The Mavericks netted the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft Lottery after only having a 1.8 percent chance of doing so, later selecting Cooper Flagg with the first pick in the draft. Somehow getting their hands on Flagg was one of the only ways that the team could even begin to help fans move on from the Doncic trade, and while Doncic will always be a key piece of Mavericks history, the Flagg era has the chance to be special as well.

He is truly the perfect player to play alongside Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving, and he is a spitting image of the type of player that Nico Harrison covets. Harrison has made it clear that culture and defense are two of the most important building blocks in Dallas that he wants his team to abide by, and Flagg flourishes in both areas.

He'll be an elite defender as a rookie, and his clear focus on winning and doing whatever the coaching staff asks of him is unheard of for an 18-year-old.

Luck was on the Mavericks' side when they landed the No. 1 overall pick to later select Flagg, and it may have just returned at the perfect time.