History of the Dallas Mavericks

80s - The New Kids

The Mavericks franchise began in the 1980-81 season. It didn’t take long for them to find success as they soon went on a five year playoff run under legendary coach Dick Motta. They were constantly one of the best offensive teams behind the high scorer Mark Aguirre who they traded to the Pistons in the 1989 season.

90s - Hardship

As other players who they built around - Derek Harper and Rolando Blackman - got older, and DIck Motta left for Sacramento, the franchise took a sharp downturn. They didn’t make the playoffs a single season in the 90s but that led to a great draft pick in Dirk Nowitzki in 1998.

00s - Constant Contention

The 2000s were the exact opposite of the previous decade. Mark Cuban bought the team in the 1999-2000 season and wouldn’t miss the playoffs until 2013. They were one of the toughest teams in the West but only made the finals once in 2006 where they lost to Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O’Neal, and the rest of the Miami Heat. The next year they would win 67 regular season games but lose in the first round t0 the 8 seed.

10s - Champions At Last

A 32 year old Dirk Nowitzki finally won the Mavericks a ring in 2011 making one of the most impressive finals runs we’ve seen. They swept the defending champion Lakers, beat an up and coming Thunder roster, and finally beat the Miami Heat superteam to win it all. As Dirk got older the Mavericks never got back to where they once were, but hoped to after drafting their next franchise player in Luka Doncic.