Spurs' Victor Wembanyama battles against new-look Mavs' Klay Thompson in Dallas' season-opening win

DALLAS – Klay Thompson's first real game with the Dallas Mavericks couldn't have gone much better. The start to San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama's second professional season didn't go so well.

Thompson, co-founder of the Splash Brothers dynasty with the Golden State Warriors, hit six 3-pointers with his new team in the Mavericks' 120-109 victory over the Spurs. Luka Dončić led the defending Western Conference champions with 28 points, while Wembanyama shot just 5 of 18 and scored 17 points in the Spurs' loss.

Thompson, 34, joined the Mavs on a three-year, $50 million contract in a six-team sign-and-trade after 13 seasons, five All-Star appearances and six Finals appearances with the Warriors. He finished Game 1 for the Mavs with 22 points and seven rebounds, making 7 of 13 from the field, including a half-dozen three-pointers.

His only 2-pointer of the night came on his first shot, one of his famous pump fakes from the 3-point line to mid-range for a jumper.

After struggling to shoot in the 4-1 series loss to the Boston Celtics in the previous NBA Finals, Dallas' top priority was to acquire a shooter of Thompson's caliber. There are only 81 games and two months of playoffs left before we see if the plan achieves the team's desired goal, but the first step at American Airlines Arena has been positive.

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Thompson is a career 41 percent shooter from 3-point range, owns the fourth-most 3s in NBA history and led the league in 3s made in a single season as recently as 2023.

His first three-pointer as a Maverick — a step-back bomb in the corner that we saw countless times during his decade of success with the Warriors — came on a pass from Dončić and highlighted how dangerous the Mavs' offense can be with a floor spacer as Thompson added to Dallas' other top-notch offensive talent.

Kyrie Irving, one of those stars, scored 15 points on 6 of 17 shooting. Dončić is a perennial MVP candidate for the Mavs, and while he had the typical statistical cracker of a game (10 rebounds and 8 assists), he struggled, hitting 9 of 25 goals.

On Thursday night, Irving, Thompson and Dončić played together for the first time after Dončić did not play in any of Dallas' preseason games.

Wembanyama, the 7-foot-4 French sensation and reigning Rookie of the Year, added nine boards and a block to his total. He missed several layups and tap-ins at the rim, was 3 of 16 from the floor at one point and finished the game just 1 of 8 from 3-point range.

Wembanyama particularly struggled with the Mavs in his season debut as a rookie last year, when he scored just six points and recorded five fouls in three quarters. He did it in a short amount of time, leading all rookies in points (21.4), rebounds (10.6) and blocks (3.6) per game in 71 games for the Spurs.

He was also the league's best shot blocker – joining Manute Bol as the only rookies to ever lead the league in blocks – making him a finalist for the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award, which will be announced Tuesday.

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Wembanyama became the first player in league history to score at least 1,500 points (1,522), grab 700 rebounds (755), dish out 250 assists (274), and block 250 shots (254) while making at least 100 three-pointers in a game ( 128) scored season.

The Spurs opened last season as the youngest team in the league and finished with 22 wins. They appeared as a much older group thanks to the offseason acquisitions of Harrison Barnes (who won a championship with Thompson and the Warriors in 2015) and Chris Paul.

Barnes hit his first five shots and finished with 17 points, while Paul added three points, seven goals and eight assists in his Spurs debut.

This story will be updated.

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(Photo: Jerome Miron / Imagn Images)