The Dallas Mavericks (also known as the Mavs) are a professional basketball team based in Dallas, Texas, US, belonging to the National Basketball Association (NBA). In their history, the Mavericks have won one NBA championship, five division titles, and three conference championships.

History

1979–1981: Beginnings

In 1979, businessman Don Carter and partner Norm Sonju requested the right to bring an NBA franchise to Dallas. The last professional basketball team in Dallas had been the Dallas Chaparrals of the American Basketball Association, which moved to San Antonio in 1973 to become the San Antonio Spurs.

At the 1980 NBA All-Star Game, league owners voted to admit the new team, with the team's name coming from the 1957–1962 television western Maverick. The name was chosen by the fans with 4600 postcards received beating Wranglers and Express. James Garner, who played the namesake character, was a member of the ownership group. There was some controversy at the time since the University of Texas at Arlington also uses the Mavericks nickname. The Dallas Mavericks joined the Midwest Division of the Western Conference, where they would stay until the league went to six divisions for the 2004–05 season. Dick Motta, who had guided the Washington Bullets to the NBA Championship in 1977–78, was hired as the team's first head coach. He had a well-earned reputation of being a stern disciplinarian, but was also a great teacher of the game.

Kiki Vandeweghe of UCLA was drafted by the Mavs with the 11th pick of the 1980 NBA draft, but Vandeweghe refused to play for the expansion Mavericks and staged a holdout that lasted a month into the team's inaugural season. Vandeweghe was traded to the Denver Nuggets, along with a first-round pick in 1981, in exchange for two future first-round picks that eventually materialized into Rolando Blackman in 1981 and Sam Vincent in 1985.

In the Mavericks' debut game, taking place in the brand-new Reunion Arena, the Mavericks stunned the Spurs, 103–92. But the Mavs started the season with a discouraging 6–40 record on their way to finishing 15–67. However, the Mavericks did make a player acquisition that, while it seemed minor at the time, turned out to play an important role in the early years of their franchise. Journeyman guard Brad Davis, who played for the Anchorage Northern Knights of the Continental Basketball Association, was tracked down and signed by the Mavs in December. At the time, there was absolutely no reason to expect that Davis would be any better than the expansion-level talent the Mavs had. But he started the Mavs' final 26 games, led the team in assists, and his career soared. He spent the next twelve years with the Mavericks, and eventually his no. 15 jersey was retired.

The 1981 NBA draft brought three players who would become vital parts of the team. The Mavs selected forward Mark Aguirre with the first pick, guard Rolando Blackman ninth, and forward Jay Vincent 24th. By the end of his seven-year Mavs career, Aguirre would average 24.6 points per game. Blackman contributed 19.2 points over his 11-year career in Dallas. But it was Jay Vincent who made the biggest difference for the Mavs in their second season, leading the team in scoring with 21.4 points per game and earning NBA All-Rookie Team honors. The Mavericks improved to 28–54, getting out of the Midwest Division cellar as they finished on top of the Utah Jazz.

1982–1985: Rise to power In 1982–83, the Mavericks were serious contenders for the first time. At the All-Star break, they were 25–24 and had won 12 of their last 15 games. They could not sustain this momentum, and finishing seven games behind the Denver Nuggets for the sixth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. But the Mavs' 38–44 record signified a 10-game improvement from the previous season, and the fact that a third-year expansion team had even been in playoff contention at all was quite remarkable.

Mark Aguirre led the 1982–83 Mavericks with 24.4 points per game, finishing sixth in the NBA. Jay Vincent and Rolando Blackman contributed 18.7 and 17.7 points per game, respectively. Brad Davis was 10th in the NBA in assists with 7.2 per game, and shot .845 from the line, sixth in the league. Derek Harper was drafted by the Mavs with the 11th pick of the 1983 NBA draft. The guard would spend the next decade with the organization, averaging 15 points and 6.1 assists. The Mavericks' hard work paid off in 1983–84 as they posted a winning record for the first time in franchise history, finishing 43–39 and second in the Midwest Division. The Mavs also earned the first playoff berth in franchise history. Mark Aguirre was named the team's first NBA All-Star, as he finished with an average of 29.5 points per game—second in the league only to Utah's Adrian Dantley.

Dallas finished with the fourth seed in the Western Conference playoffs, and their first playoff trip was modestly successful as they defeated the Seattle SuperSonics in five games. The fifth and deciding game of that series was played at Moody Coliseum, as Reunion Arena, then the home court for the Mavericks, was hosting a tennis tournament. The Magic Johnson-led Los Angeles Lakers were next for the Mavs, and the young club fell short, losing in five games. But a trade the Mavericks made in their inaugural season of 1980 paid off for them in 1984, because they owned Cleveland's first-round pick, which ended up being the fourth pick overall. The Mavs used it to select forward/center Sam Perkins, a former North Carolina Tar Heel with surprising range from the three-point line who would average 14.4 points and 8.0 rebounds in six seasons with Dallas.

About this time, the Dallas Cowboys, once one of the NFL's elite teams, began a slow decline that eventually saw them fall to 1–15 in 1989. The Mavs were hitting their stride at about the same time, and replaced the Cowboys as the Metroplex's favorite team. The 1984–85 team finished a game better than the previous year at 44–38. Mark Aguirre led the team in scoring again with 25.7 points per game, Sam Perkins made the All-Rookie team, and Rolando Blackman represented the Mavericks in the 1985 NBA All-Star Game. The Mavs returned to the playoffs in 1985, but were not as successful as they had been the previous year. They won Game 1 in double-overtime against the Portland Trail Blazers in their first-round playoff series, but lost the next three games in a row, ending their season

1985–1988: A true contender Dallas had the eighth pick in the 1985 NBA draft—again due to a trade with the Cavaliers—and drafted German-born forward Detlef Schrempf out of Washington. He would show flashes of brilliance in his three-plus seasons with the team, but it was not until he was traded to the Indiana Pacers that he displayed his full potential. The Mavericks also traded center Kurt Nimphius to the Los Angeles Clippers for center James Donaldson, who would play for the Mavericks until halfway through the 1991–92 season. This allowed the Mavericks to have the steady hand at center that had been lacking throughout the franchise's first five years. In 1988, James Donaldson would represent the only All-Star center in Dallas Maverick history.

Rolando Blackman represented the Mavericks in the 1986 NBA All-Star Game, hosted by Dallas at Reunion Arena. The 1985–86 Mavericks were second in scoring at 115.3 points per game, gaining them their third straight playoff appearance. They defeated Utah 3–1 in the first round. In the conference semi-finals, they ran into the Lakers again, and L.A. defeated Dallas in six games. But four of those games were decided by four points or less, and Dallas won half of those, leaving Mavericks fans room to hope that they could finally top the Lakers in the following season. The Mavs drafted Michigan center Roy Tarpley with the seventh overall pick, who would go on to become a talented—but troubled—member of the roster.

The 1986–87 Mavericks team had their most successful regular season to date, going 55–27 and winning their first Midwest Division title. But despite the great expectations surrounding the team, they self-destructed in the playoffs. After hammering the Seattle SuperSonics by 22 points in Game 1, the bottom dropped out for the Mavs, as they lost Games 2 and 3 in close fashion before succumbing in Game 4 in Seattle. Following the unexpected early playoff exit, Motta, who had been with the team since its inception, shockingly resigned as head coach. John MacLeod, who had led the Phoenix Suns to nine playoff berths in 11 seasons including an NBA Finals run in 1976, was hired as his replacement.

The 1987–88 NBA season saw the Mavericks dip just a little bit in the regular season—finishing 53–29 and losing their Midwest Division title to the Denver Nuggets—but it was another successful year for the team. Mark Aguirre and James Donaldson both played in the 1988 NBA All-Star Game, the Mavericks rattled off a franchise-best 11-game winning streak, and Rolando Blackman scored his 10,000th career point. Aguirre led the team in scoring for the sixth consecutive year with 25.1 points per game, and Roy Tarpley won the NBA Sixth Man Award with averages of 13.5 points and 11.8 rebounds. The season saw the Mavs' deepest playoff run to date. They dispatched the Houston Rockets in four games and the Nuggets in six, leaving only the defending NBA Champion Lakers between them and their first-ever trip to the NBA Finals. The Mavericks gave the Lakers everything they could handle, but in the end the more experienced Lakers prevailed, defeating Dallas in seven games on the way to eventually winning their second consecutive NBA Championship.

1988–1990: Injuries sting Mavs Despite all the changes, the Mavs remained in contention. However, their season effectively ended when James Donaldson went down with a ruptured patella tendon on March 10, 1989, and missed the rest of the season as a result. They also traded last season's leading scorer Mark Aguirre to the Detroit Pistons for aging former top scorer Adrian Dantley mid-season. The Mavericks were left undermanned, demoralized and disheartened as they finished with a 38–44 record, losing the eighth and final playoff seed in the Western Conference via tiebreaker to the Denver Nuggets. It was their first losing season since 1982–83, which was also the last time they missed the playoffs.

The Mavericks returned to the playoffs in 1989–90 with a 47–35 record, but it was another season of off-court chaos. On November 15, only six games into the Mavs' season, Tarpley was arrested for driving while intoxicated and resisting arrest. The team started 5–6 and MacLeod was fired, replaced by assistant coach Richie Adubato. The Mavs finished the season with four straight victories to surge into the playoffs, but went down rather meekly to the Portland Trail Blazers in three games. It would be the team's last winning season and last playoff appearance until 2001.

1990–1993: Free-falling The team endured a number of changes in 1990, losing Sam Perkins to the Lakers via free agency and suffering injuries to practically their entire 1990–91 starting lineup. The players they managed to acquire—Rodney McCray, Fat Lever and Alex English—were all in the twilight of their careers. On March 9 it was announced that Fat Lever would have season-ending surgery on his right knee, and that very night, Tarpley suffered a knee injury of his own which ended his season. The Mavericks' season only got worse from there, and they finished with a record of 28–54, the worst in the NBA, falling behind even the second-year Minnesota Timberwolves and Orlando Magic. In March 1991, Tarpley was charged with suspicion of driving while intoxicated and was suspended again by the NBA.