The calendar on Collin County kitchen counters already has a red circle around late October, even if tip-off is still weeks away.
Dallas opens the 2026-27 NBA regular season on Wednesday, Oct. 21, at the Houston Rockets at 7:30 p.m. CT at Toyota Center, according to the Mavericks' schedule release. The club then visits Indiana on Oct. 23 before hosting the San Antonio Spurs in its American Airlines Center home opener on Saturday, Oct. 24, at 7 p.m.
CT - the third straight season San Antonio has drawn that assignment, the team and NBA.com listings show.
What arrives with that schedule is not a polish job. NBA.com's Shaun Powell, writing in a Sept. 22 season preview, put last season at 26-56 and 12th in the West.
The franchise answered with a front-office reset: Masai Ujiri as team president and, per USA Today and ESPN reporting, Mike Schmitz as general manager, then Dusty May as head coach after May's Michigan team won the 2026 NCAA title.
Building around Year 2 of Cooper Flagg
Powell's preview framed the mandate in plain language: contend eventually with Cooper Flagg as the centerpiece after a Rookie of the Year campaign. ESPN's offseason recap, by Tim MacMahon and colleagues, described Ujiri's early roster moves as attempts to make life easier for Flagg - spacing, motor, and creation help rather than another star-chasing swing.
Allen readers who follow high school basketball know what a year-two leap looks like in miniature. The NBA version is slower, louder, and measured against a Western Conference that did not wait while Dallas finished 26-56.
Kyrie Irving's return from a torn ACL is the swing variable. ESPN's Tim MacMahon wrote that Irving will be roughly 19 months removed from the injury when camp opens and that new management is intrigued by his fit beside Flagg - while also noting contenders could call if Dallas decides the 34-year-old's window and Flagg's timeline diverge before the trade deadline.
A frontcourt pileup May has to sort
Powell listed a surplus of bigs: P.J. Washington, Dereck Lively II, Daniel Gafford, Santi Aldama (from Memphis), and first-round pick Morez Johnson Jr., selected with May's college recommendation in mind. At some point, Powell wrote, a pecking order must form.
That competition matters for a fan base that saw half-court offense rank last in Synergy tracking last season, per NBA.com's John Schuhmann: 0.93 points per chance in the half court (30th) against 1.20 in transition (second). Irving's isolation and pick-and-roll efficiency, Schuhmann noted, outpaced the ball-handlers Dallas used in his absence.
