The NBA season is officially back.  Well, only if you count preseason games.

For a Mavericks fan, tonight’s matchup with the Beijing Ducks — yes… you read that right– should be something worth being excited about since it has been nearly six months since Dallas closed out their 2017-2018 season with that eerily-similar-to-a-preseason tankapalooza against the Phoenix Suns on April 10th.

While the Mavericks are bringing back a good amount of their 2017-2018 roster for this season, the element of this season’s team bringing the fans the most excitement is the plethora of new players like rookie Luka Doncic and big-time free agent signing DeAndre Jordan.  Towards the end of the roster, the Mavericks have more than a handful of rookies and undrafted free agents fighting to make their marks in the NBA.

The following are the three most intriguing storylines heading into tonight’s game:

Welcome to the NBA, Luka Doncic
No matter what way you want to slice it, tonight is the NBA debut for Luka Doncic.  He’ll have on a Mavericks jersey.  He’ll be in front of the Mavericks fans.  His actual Mavericks teammates will be playing around him.  For however long he plays tonight, it will be the thing that captures NBA Twitter and the fans’ in the American Airlines Center attention the most.

With injuries keeping Harrison Barnes, Dirk Nowitzki, J.J. Barea, Dwight Powell and Ding Yanyuhang all out for tonight and potentially beyond, the Mavericks rotation will be slightly different from what will be seen once the regular season begins.  Adjustments will need to be made to the starting lineup around Doncic.

Per RC: "Starters will start" tomorrow vs Beijing. Likely, DSJ, Matthews, Jordan, Luka and DFS.

— Chuck Cooperstein (@coopmavs) September 28, 2018

Of course any accomplishments, good or bad, Doncic has in this or any other preseason game before the October 17th season opener in Phoenix will be taken with a grain of salt.  Preseason accomplishments are hard to measure.  For what it’s worth, here are the preseason numbers of a few notable “rookies” from the 2017-2018 class:

• Ben Simmons: 14.3 PPG, 5,4 APG, 7,8 RPG, 47% FG in 22.8 minutes per game
• Donovan Mitchell: 15.5 PPG, 2.8 APG, 2.3 RPG, 42% FG in 24.8 minutes per game
• Dennis Smith Jr.: 10.9 PPG, 4 APG, 2.5 RPG, 42% FG in 19.2 minutes per game

Who exactly are they playing?
Shame on you for not following the day-to-day of the Beijing Ducks.  They reign from the Chinese Basketball Association, or just “CBA” as those of us in the know call it, and have three league championships this decade coming in 2012, 2014 and 2015.

Before you ask, yes this is one of the teams that former NBA All-Star Stephon Marbury played for all those years in China.  Marbury played with the Ducks from 2011 through 2017 and was a vital piece in each of their three championships.  The 41 year-old is now retired from basketball, but definitely made a major impact on the CBA since he first entered the league back in 2010.

Their current roster is not filled with any other players with any notable NBA ties, if you can find it.  Nevertheless, there’s another professional basketball team coming to the American Airlines Center to play a game against Luka Doncic and the Mavs, so be excited!

Which young players at the end of the roster will make the biggest impression?
Last Friday at Media Day, copies of the training camp roster were floating around and it was truly astounding to look up and down the page to see just how many players Dallas is bringing into camp and how many of them are armed with little-to-no NBA experience.

Besides Doncic and early second round pick Jalen Brunson, the following are other players in Mavs training camp who will be having their first action on an NBA court this preseason:

Ding Yanyuhang, Kostas Antetokounmpo, Ray Spalding, Ryan Broekhoff, Daryl Macon and Codi Miller-McIntyre.

Not all will be able to make the final roster, so training camp this week and tonight’s game are just the start of a number of limited opportunities for these players to make a lasting impression on coach Rick Carlisle and his staff.

“Just push each other, work hard and just show that we belong here,”  guard Daryl Macon said when asked what he and the rest of the rookies are trying to do in order to make their mark during the preseason.

With the unexpected injury to Harrison Barnes and the lingering effects of injuries for other veterans like Nowitzki and Barea, there will be minutes and reps opened up in these games and practices for the aforementioned young players to state their case for belonging on a NBA roster this season.

Tip-off for tonight’s game is slated for just after 7:30 and can be seen on Fox Sports Southwest Plus and heard on 103.3 ESPN Radio.  Be sure to follow Dallas Sports Fanatic’s social media account for exclusive videos and quotes before, during and after the game.