The Dallas Mavericks travel to Arizona to face the Phoenix Suns at Phoenix Suns Arena on Wednesday.

The Mavericks were one of the biggest surprises of the 2019 season, with Luka Doncic blossoming into an absolute superstar. He actually finished last year with 28.8 points, 9.4 rebounds and 8.8 assists per game. That has him entering this season as the MVP favorite and no one would be surprised if the 21-year-old ends up finishing the year with triple-double averages. That's a scary thought that he's so young and he makes a great pairing with Kristaps Porzingis. Unfortunately, Porzingis will miss the first month of the season and it'll put even more of the load on Doncic's shoulders. An understated move in the offseason was adding Josh Richardson though, who's one of the most underrated wings in the league. He'll add to what's already the best offense in the NBA while giving them a stopper on the other end of the floor as well.

The Suns were lucky to be in the bubble according to most people but they represented themselves better than any other team. That was evident by their perfect 8-0 record but that couldn't even get them into the postseason. What it did do is open up some eyes though and made them a premier destination for free agents and trade targets. That's one of the big reasons why Chris Paul and Jae Crowder ended up there, making this club an automatic contender. That means Devin Booker and DeAndre Ayton finally have a leader and a defensive stud which are two things this team has been needing since the Steven Nash-Amare Stoudemire era.

These teams played four times last season, with Phoenix winning three-straight coming into this matchup. In fact, they've won 10 of their last 13 games against Dallas in total.