How to Watch Milwaukee Bucks vs. Dallas Mavericks Online Without Cable (10/17/24): FREE LIVE STREAM, Time, TV, Channel for NBA Preseason Game

The Milwaukee Bucks will face the Dallas Mavericks in an NBA preseason game on Thursday, October 17, 2024 (10/17/24) at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.

How to watch: Fans can watch the game for free via a trial version of DirecTV Stream. You can also watch the show with a Sling TV subscription, which saves you half off your first month.

Here’s what you need to know:

What: NBA preseason

WHO: Bucks vs. Mavericks

When: Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024

Time: 7:30 p.m. ET

Where: American Airlines Center

TV:TNT

Live stream: DirecTV Stream (free trial)

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Here’s a recent NBA story from the Associated Press:

It was just minutes after Denver’s reign as NBA champions ended last spring. The Minnesota Timberwolves celebrated, their music and screams loud enough to be heard in the room where Nuggets coach Michael Malone somberly held his final postgame news conference of the season.

At that moment, it was official: Another season passed without the NBA having a back-to-back champion, and Malone had to say what had become obvious.

“It is difficult. It is difficult. It’s hard to repeat,” Malone said. “It’s hard to win.”

He’s right. And there has never been an era in NBA history when it has been more difficult.

Here are the last six NBA champions in order: Toronto, the Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee, Golden State, Denver and now Boston. That’s six different franchises that have won titles in six seasons, a parity the league has only seen once before – nearly half a century ago.

The days of dynasties may be on hold for now, replaced by a time when, for a variety of reasons, getting to the NBA mountaintop and staying there is harder than usual. Now it’s the Celtics’ turn to buck that trend.

“It’s always hard to win one,” said Boston guard Jrue Holiday, who won a title with Milwaukee in 2021 and was part of the Bucks team that was eliminated in Round 2 a year later. “But then it’s even more difficult to win twice in a row.”

The NBA doesn’t seem to mind. This is the parity era and the current collective bargaining agreement numbers make it even harder for teams to be dynastic — a rapid change from the four-year period from 2015 to 2018 when Cleveland and Golden State reached the Finals every year.

Put simply, the more teams spend, the harder it is now to make plays, especially plays involving players with big contracts. The most recent CBA, which came into effect last year, provides for two luxury tax excesses. Skipping the first frontcourt will compromise your roster flexibility. Go through the second one and it will be severely hampered. One could argue that there haven’t been such significant rule changes since the league changed lottery odds and instituted a play-in tournament to discourage tanking.

An example: Minnesota and New York recently took several days to finalize a deal a few weeks ago after agreeing to the parameters – Karl-Anthony Towns went to the Knicks, Julius Randle and Donte DiVencenzo went to the Wolves – , because the financial details were required to be completely accurate.

“The new rules … some of the consequences are, frankly, unintended,” Wolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly was quoted as saying by ESPN. “I don’t know if anyone intended to make it such a challenge to make moves, to make trades when you’re above certain limits.”

No, that’s exactly what the NBA wanted.

“I don’t want to say nothing is lost, but I don’t think our system will, by definition, prevent repeat championships,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said. “I think that makes it less likely, but we didn’t want to say, ‘Let’s make sure there’s a different champion every year.’ I think it’s more about equal opportunities again. But I also think there is a real incentive for players to stay in the markets.”

Nobody would say that all 30 teams go into this season with a realistic chance of winning the title. But there are more real hopefuls than there were a few seasons ago. Last year, 12 teams started with title odds of 25-1 or less. Six years earlier, at the height of the Warriors-Cavs series, there were only three such teams.

“The league is striving for parity,” Washington general manager Will Dawkins said. “And flattening the lottery odds, adding the second frontcourt, all of those things are intended to contribute to that.”

None of the previous five champions, with the exception of the reigning Celtics (the overwhelming favorite to win that season’s title according to BetMGM Sportsbook), even made it back to the Finals the following season. That matches the longest such drought in NBA history, most recently seen when the 1973-77 champions – in order New York, Boston, Golden State, Boston again and then Portland – were all eliminated in the conference finals or earlier .

A few years ago, most teams probably didn’t think they had a realistic chance. This is a different series.

“I just think everything is aimed at becoming more competitive and more teams are choosing to do that. And then it’s fun when there aren’t big differences between the teams,” said Miami coach Erik Spoelstra. “It will be about how teams can manage all these different emotions and competitive spirit over the course of a season. Sometimes it gets uncomfortable. I love it. It’s great for the league, it’s great for attendance, it’s great for the fans. Ultimately, that’s what you want.”

(The Associated Press contributed to this report)

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