DALLAS – Klay Thompson folded the box score on the table in front of him into a paper airplane during the press conference following his debut with the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night, continuing one of the postgame habits he had throughout his 13 years with the Dallas Mavericks developed. Warriors of the Golden State.

Thompson was particularly proud of the plane’s flight after launching it to the back of the room before taking off.

“Oh, look at that!” said Thompson. “It’s like an F-16.”

Thompson’s start with his new franchise has also been quite impressive.

He scored 22 points in 26 minutes in Dallas’ season-opening 120-109 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night. He was 7-of-13 from the floor and 6-of-10 from 3-point range, setting a record for 3s made in a Mavericks debut. He also contributed to the gritty aspects of the game, grabbing seven rebounds and three steals.

“He was great, man,” Mavs superstar Luka Doncic said. “He just knocked down a lot of shots and he moved out there. He played great defense, too.”

Doncic described himself as “rusty” after missing the preseason due to a left calf contusion. He finished with 28 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists, but was just 9 of 25 from the floor.

It was the first time Doncic and Thompson played together outside of a pickup game and a handful of practices, but the chemistry between them clicked. Doncic assisted on four of Thompson’s seven buckets, one of the league’s best playmakers who put together an all-time great shooter.

“It’s easy to play with a guy like that,” Doncic said. ‘It makes your life easier. You have to find him.’

It was the kind of dynamic Thompson envisioned when he chose to come to Dallas in free agency, a decision made partly out of a desire to play with Doncic.

“What an incredible talent,” Thompson said of Doncic. “I mean, it doesn’t make sense because what we’re taught as kids as the best basketball players is that you have to jump the highest, you have to run the fastest, but somehow Luka defies that. plays at his own speed and manipulates the game as best I’ve ever seen anyone do. And it’s great to be the recipient of that and look great doing it.

Four of Doncic’s feeds to Thompson resulted in 3-pointers. On one of these in the fourth quarter, when Thompson made a pop-up to the right wing after setting a back screen in a “Spain” pick-and-roll, he was so wide open that he had time to take a dribble. take before the uncontested shot. .

Doncic began trotting back into the defense as soon as he handed the pass to Thompson. The big smile on Doncic’s face indicated how confident he was that Thompson would shoot.

“Glad I made it,” Thompson said. “He didn’t look stupid.”

Thompson, a four-time champion with the Warriors, acknowledged feeling “a lot of nerves and anxiety” in his first official game for a new franchise. He calmed down after his shot early in the first quarter, when he caught a pass from Doncic on the right wing, made a pump fake to get former Golden State teammate Chris Paul to bite and took one dribble before making a 20-foot pull-down down. sweater up.

“Great debut,” Thompson said. “It’s only one game in October, but it feels good to get that first one out of the way. … Just a lot of excitement, just a great feeling really. And you only get the first time of something so often.”