Gauging the panic meter on 3 struggling Mavericks ahead of regular season

The long wait of looking for revenge for the 2024-25 Dallas Mavericks is just days away. The anticipation is growing tremendously for the Mavericks' opening night, as they face an important matchup on Thursday night against the San Antonio Spurs.

Even with the days to opening night getting slim, there still might be a right to be concerned about some parts of the 2024 preseason. The Mavericks finished the preseason 1-3 but opened the preseason by losing the first three games.

The last thing a team wants is for a player to struggle in the preseason and then have it carry over into the regular season. A few Mavericks players had a slow preseason that has some Mavericks fans concerned for opening night.

Gauging the panic meter on 3 struggling Mavericks before regular season

High expectations are placed on the Mavericks this season in an attempt to make another run to the NBA Finals, but the Mavericks need all their players on their roster to be consistent to make another trip happen.

It's important to remember that not too much analysis should go into the preseason considering that Luka Doncic didn't play and nothing was at stake, but it is fair to have our eyes on a couple of players who may not have performed as well as expected.

3. Quentin Grimes

The Mavericks were excited to dump Tim Hardaway Jr.'s contract and acquire Quentin Grimes from the Detroit Pistons. A fresh start was needed for the 24-year-old, and Dallas seems to be the perfect place for him to do that.

Grimes showed flashes of his potential in the Mavericks' third preseason game when he scored 20 points in 22 minutes on 64 percent shooting, but the last preseason game may have shown concerns he might take time to develop still.

In the final preseason game this past Thursday against the Milwaukee Bucks, Grimes did record 10 rebounds, but scored one point and shot a rough 0-7 from the field. To make it more of a concern, Grimes played 24 minutes.

Outside of his one 20-point game, Grimes didn't score over 10 points in any other game. Despite his low scoring numbers, Grimes proved that he is going to be an outstanding defender, and there is much more to his game than his 3-point shooting.

Grimes ended the preseason on a poor note if just analyzing the stat sheet, but he still made a big impact in that game.

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