Spurs' Victor Wembanyama struggles against Klay Thompson, new ...

DALLAS — Klay Thompson sat answering questions after his record-setting performance Thursday, diving into his feelings of gratitude and his perspective on a long season ahead, even after all those 3s.

He folded a stat sheet into a paper airplane while he talked, stood up on the dais and glided the plane past rows of reporters to the cameras at the back of the room.

Yes, Thompson still has it, and his 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, on the other hand, wasn’t so good.

Thompson, co-author of the Splash Brothers dynasty with the Golden State Warriors, splashed six 3-pointers with his new team in a 120-109 win for the Mavericks over the Spurs, a team record for 3s in a Dallas debut.

“My feelings were a lot of nerves, anxiousness, for a few minutes,” Thompson said. “Seeing one go through is great, and it was a great debut. It’s only one game in October, but it feels good just to get the first one out of the way. And setting a record is always a great feeling, something I’ll never take for granted.”

WHAT A START to the @KlayThompson era in Dallas:

???? 22 PTS on 7-13 FGM???? 7 REB, 3 STL

He sets a @dallasmavs record with 6 threes in his debut! pic.twitter.com/g3nQMBM9ty

— NBA (@NBA) October 25, 2024

Thompson, 34, joined the Mavs on a three-year, $50 million contract as part of a six-team sign-and-trade deal after 13 seasons, five All-Star appearances and six finals trips with the Warriors. He finished Game 1 for the Mavs with 22 points and seven rebounds, connecting on 7-of-13 from the field, including those half-dozen 3s.

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

After struggling to shoot in a 4-1 series loss to the Boston Celtics in the previous NBA Finals, adding a shooter of Thompson’s caliber was Dallas’ top priority. There are only 81 games and two months of playoffs to go before we see if the plan produces the team’s desired goal, but the first step taken inside American Airlines Arena on Thursday was positive.

Thompson is a career 41 percent shooter from 3-point range, owns the fourth-most 3s in NBA history and, as recently as 2023, led the league in 3s in a single season. His first 3 as a Maverick — a stepback bomb in the corner we saw countless times during his decade of greatness with the Warriors — came on a pass from Luka Dončić.

“Luka, what an incredible talent,” Thompson said. “It doesn’t make any sense because what we were taught growing up as far as being the best at basketball, you’ve got to jump the highest, run the fastest. Somehow Luka defies that; he plays at his own speed and does it as good as anyone I’ve ever seen do it. It’s great to be a recipient of that and get great looks, and hopefully, we can elevate each other’s games and our squad.”

Dončić led Dallas, the defending Western Conference champions with 28 points, while Wembanyama shot just 5-of-18 for 17 points in the Spurs’ loss.

Luka creates "easy" shots out of double teams ????#KiaTipOff24 on TNT pic.twitter.com/nuyEex5AFU

— NBA (@NBA) October 24, 2024

Thursday night marked the first time Thompson, Dončić and Kyrie Irving played together because Dončić didn’t appear in any of Dallas’ preseason games.

“Playing with (Thompson) makes my life easier,” Dončić said.

Dončić is a perennial MVP candidate with the Mavs, and while he had his typical stat stuffer of a game (10 rebounds and eight assists), he struggled to the tune of 9-of-25 shooting. He looked exasperated as he shrugged and lamented missed shots early on — not only did he not play in the preseason, but he hadn’t played competitively since an Olympic qualifying tournament for Slovenia just after the finals.

“I played terrible,” Dončić said with a smile while discussing the noticeable effort he gave defensively.

Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said the game, where his team trailed at the half, turned with Dončić, Irving and Thompson picking up defensively in the full court, which led to some steals and transition baskets.

Irving added 15 points on 6-of-17 shooting, and Dereck Lively II had a monster game off the bench with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

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

The Mavericks seemed to throw several defenders at Wembanyama and pushed him out of position when he caught the ball with his back to the basket. Wembanyama played just 17 minutes in two preseason games and said conditioning was an issue for him Thursday.

“None of us have played a full game since, well, middle of the summer for me (at the Olympics),” Wembanyama said. “It makes sense but it’s a struggle every player in the NBA goes through. It will take one or two games (to get in shape); it should be quick. … Conditioning is not really an excuse (for missed shots).”

Kidd said, “We were just trying to keep him as far away from the paint as possible.”

Wembanyama mostly struggled in his season debut last year as a rookie, against the Mavs of all teams, when he scored just six points and recorded five fouls through three quarters. He got it together in short order and went on to lead all rookies in scoring (21.4), rebounds (10.6) and blocks (3.6) per game in 71 games for the Spurs.

He also was the league’s top shot blocker, joining Manute Bol as the only rookies to lead the NBA in blocks.

Wembanyama became the first player in league history to score at least 1,500 points (1,522), corral 700 rebounds (755), dish out 250 assists (274) and block 250 shots (254) while making at least 100 3s (128) in a season.

The Spurs opened last season as the NBA’s youngest team and wound up with 22 wins. They took the floor 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 connected on his first five shots and finished with 17 points, while Paul added three points, seven boards and eight assists in his Spurs debut.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich pulled all his starters midway through the fourth quarter with the team down by 17.

Before Thursday’s game, Popovich was asked for his reaction to the offseason news that the Mavericks, coming off a trip to the finals, had acquired Thompson.

“Oh my god. How the hell did they do that?” Popovich said. “I was probably having a glass of wine somewhere and it wrecked my whole night.”

Thursday night did not go much better for him, and Thompson was the main reason.

(Photo: Jerome Miron / Imagn Images)

Joe Vardon is a senior NBA writer for The Athletic, based in Cleveland. Follow Joe on Twitter @joevardon