The NBA preseason continues today with the Dallas Mavericks taking on the Los Angeles Clippers on the road.
With the vast majority of key players unavailable, such as Irving, Doncic, Kleber, Exum and others, the Mavericks can only field a bunch of role players to try and prove themselves. But the facts show that the Mavericks' ball-handlers are Doncic and Irving, and if these two players are missing, the whole team will have a hard time functioning.
In today's preseason game, the biggest star on the Mavericks team is Thompson, but he is also the one who pulls the hip the most. In the first quarter of the game, Thompson made 4 shots, all of which were missed, whether it was a three-point shot or a breakthrough layup, he was iron, and even blocked by the opponent.
In the second quarter, Thompson tried three shots, but still didn't make it, and he shot farther and farther, but he couldn't hit. Normally, stars with guaranteed contracts don't play long in the preseason and only play the first half, but Thompson still played another 4 minutes in the third quarter in order to find a feel for the game, and still missed two three-pointers.
In the whole game, Thompson shot 9 times, all of which hit the iron, which made people feel very helpless. 0 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist, and 0 of 6 shots from beyond the three-point line, Thompson can be said to have played very badly in this game, and the Mavericks also lost to the Clippers 96-110.
Obviously, the preseason win or defeat doesn't matter, but Thompson's individual performance is really not ideal. In the last game, with Irving on the side, Thompson got better shooting space and had a relatively good performance. There was no one to feed the ball in this game, and Thompson immediately started to play iron, and it seems that he must be paired with Doncic or Irving to ensure a certain offensive efficiency.