5 Peaks and 5 pits from the Dallas Mavericks' season thus far

5. Pit: First three games of the preseason

Despite the Mavericks currently sitting at third in the entire Western Conference, things were looking pretty dull to start the preseason for Dallas. Dallas took a preseason excursion to Abu Dhabi to face off against the Minnesota Timberwolves for two games before heading to Madrid, Spain, to take on Luka Doncic's former squad, Real Madrid.

Dallas assuredly gathered some valuable team bonding experiences with one another, but a myriad of players faced injury woes, and everyone in the traveling party was likely gassed to some extent after the Mavericks amassed over 16,500 miles of travel upon their return to Dallas

Furthermore, Dallas fared 0-3 on International turf this past preseason, and the first two losses against the Minnesota Timberwolves looked a lot more alarming at the time since no one saw Minnesota surging to the number one seed in the Western Conference through 22 regular season games thus far.

Dallas also lost to Real Madrid in debilitating fashion, as Doncic only played the opening minutes of the game due to a pending calf strain at the time. Dallas let one of their former point guards Facu Campazzo explode for 20 points, including a spree of clutch buckets down the stretch to seal the 127-123 victory for Real Madrid.

Dallas' first three preseason losses were concerning to some extent, but they are a complete far cry at this point given Dallas' current standing at 15-8 through 23 games, and Dallas finished out the preseason strong with a victory against Detroit. As is customary for most NBA teams during preseason, Dallas was still trying out different lineups and they weren't even fully acclimated together on a chemistry front that early on in the season.

Dallas' 0-3 start to preseason may not be the worst pit that they've been in so far this season but for a season with very few lowlights through 23 games, it's safe to say it 's certainly one of them.