Mavericks' D'Angelo Russell: Likely to begin year in bench role

Russell is preparing to begin the season in a bench role, per Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com.

The Mavericks instead intend to deploy No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg as their starting point guard for Wednesday's season opener against the Spurs. That said, Russell should still play a significant role in the second unit as long as Kyrie Irving (knee) is on the shelf. It appears that Naji Marshall is a candidate to open the new campaign with the first unit.