1 Pivotal advantage the Spurs have over every Southwest Division team

Dallas Mavericks

Last season was an undeniably disappointing adventure for the Dallas Mavericks. They had some unbelievable performances from Luka Doncic, and their front office even went out and traded for Kyrie Irving to land him a superstar sidekick. However, they missed the playoffs, with their brand-new dynamic duo going 5-11 in the games they played together.

This year will be the first full-length season of the Luka and Kyrie experience, and the duo should be one of the best offensive backcourts in the league. Irving has experience working off a ball-dominant player like Doncic from his days lining up alongside LeBron James. But defensively, this tandem leaves their coaching staff wanting more effort and production.

Irving and Doncic each had a Defensive Rating over 113 last season, and their striking lack of attention to detail on that side of the ball hurt Dallas. While the Spurs may not have superstar talent at either guard position to trade buckets with the Mavericks, they can still penetrate through their flimsy perimeter defense and generate shots for the rest of the team.