Dallas kicked the season off with a Western-conference rematch against Phoenix that had obvious ties to last year’s playoff series. However, Their game in Washington will be their first real taste of a potential “revenge” game this season, as former Mav Kristaps Porzingis is now in a Washington uniform.
Both rosters are dealing with some unfortunate injuries as Dallas will be without Christian Wood (ostensibly, KP’s replacement) and Tim Hardaway Jr, while Washington will be missing Bradley Beal, giving Porzingis even more latitude to put up big numbers against his former squad. However, at least when he was with Dallas, the Mavs never seems to get the better of the New York Knicks, so revenge might not be a driving motivator for the big Latvian.