Mavericks laying framework for another Finals appearance with unique plan

The Dallas Mavericks are coming off an NBA Finals appearance last season, and their playoff success can stem back all the way before the season begins.

While Dallas' midseason trades for P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford helped shift the direction of the team, the Mavs' preparation for the season is what helped set them up for one of the best seasons in franchise history.

Dallas began the 2023-24 season with a preseason trip to Abu Dhabi and Madrid, and these days of bonding as teammates helped the team's chemistry tremendously and gave everyone a chance to get to know each other before the season began.

Mavericks' team chemistry will skyrocket with training camp being in Las Vegas

Several Mavericks players spoke about how great the preseason trip to Abu Dhabi and Madrid was, and this season their preseason trip could yield a similar result as last season.

According to NBA insider Marc Stein, the Mavs are "aiming to hold a healthy portion of their training camp in Las Vegas in early October."

This would be a change from holding their training camp in Dallas as usual, but them holding training camp elsewhere could be key in the team developing team chemistry early once again. While hosting training camp in Las Vegas is completely different from traveling to Abu Dhabi and Madrid, it has the potential to yield a similar result.

Rather than going home every day after training camp, the players and staff will likely have the opportunity to bond with each other with different activities in Vegas. There is always something to do in Vegas, and it also happens to be the home of Mavs owner Patrick Dumont.

This gives the Mavs' new owner the perfect opportunity to show the team how appreciative he is of them, and showing the team hospitality and a fun environment for training camp will be big for him.

Whether the Mavericks' trip to Vegas is filled with excursions and activities or if it's strictly basketball activities, this gives the entire team the perfect chance to build championship chemistry.

Dallas has multiple new players coming in, and four of them will likely play big minutes on a nightly basis (Spencer Dinwiddie, Klay Thompson, Naji Marshall, and Quentin Grimes). While Dinwiddie already has a level of familiarity with the Mavericks organization, Thompson, Grimes, and Dinwiddie are all brand new to the team.

Thompson is going to start at small forward for the Mavs, and this is going to be a big couple of weeks for him as he is playing for a new team for the first time in his 13-year career.

This time in Vegas will allow for them to get to know their new teammates quickly and dive right into Mavs culture. Early preseason bonding helped lead the Mavs to an NBA Finals appearance last season, and training camp in Las Vegas could be the perfect idea to replicate that bonding and togetherness that was as bright as ever last year.