GAME THREAD: Dallas Mavericks vs. Oklahoma City Thunder

WHO: Dallas Mavericks vs. Toronto Raptors

WHAT: The first preseason game, officially kicking off a new era of Mavericks basketball wait actually not yet that’ll probably be Friday whoops.

WHERE: BOK Center, Tulsa, OK

WHEN: 7:00 p.m. CT

HOW: ESPN or NBA League Pass

THE STORY: This is the most anticipated Mavericks season this decade, something fans have been waiting to see ever since Kristaps Porzingis was traded to the Mavericks back in January. It’s been a long nine months for Mavericks fans but their patience will finally be rewar—

Actually, you’re going to have to wait for that! Porzingis won’t be playing tonight, instead making his debut Wednesday night against the Pistons. It also appears Luka Doncic might not be playing either. This game is also on ESPN, which adds to the hilarity and only increases the asshole legend of Rick Carlisle. “You’ve been waiting almost a year for this? Time to wait a little longer nerds.”

There were reports that the Mavericks had a hard practice on Monday, so maybe that’s why Porzingis isn’t playing tonight. Or maybe the Mavericks don’t want KP’s first game action to involve the stress of a post-game during a back-to-back, where KP would play, fly in late, not get a full night’s sleep, wake up for shootaround and then warmups all within 24 hours. Of course, there are ways to mitigate all of this, but Carlisle doesn’t care because he could care less about the optics. And really, he shouldn’t. That’s not his job.

It’s still really funny though. The rest of the Mavericks preseason games will be on local TV, so any national buzz they could generate or any non-local Mavs fans that wanted to tune in before the regular season are out of luck. The Mavericks are the best and the worst.