59 Fun Facts About Dallas Mavericks

What is the name of the arena the Mavericks have shared with the NHL's Dallas Stars since 2001?

American Airlines Center opened in 2001 after Dallas voters approved public money for part of its cost; the Mavericks and Stars both moved over from Reunion Arena.

Which NBA commissioner awarded Dallas its expansion team in 1980?

Larry O'Brien made the franchise official on May 1, 1980; 31 years later the Mavericks won the championship trophy that carries his name.

Which star of the TV western Maverick was part of the Dallas franchise's original ownership group?

James Garner, TV's Bret Maverick, was part of the original ownership group; the name itself came out of a 1980 name-the-team contest run by Dallas radio station WBAP.

Which Home Interiors and Gifts owner founded the Mavericks, partly as a gift to his wife?

Don Carter sold control in 1996 but kept a small stake and his courtside seat; when Dallas won the 2011 title, Mark Cuban had him accept the trophy from the commissioner.

Which coach, who won the 1978 NBA title with Washington, became the Mavericks' first head coach?

Dick Motta coached Dallas from its 1980 debut until 1987, when he quit by surprise after a 55-win division title ended in a first-round loss to Seattle.

Which first-round pick refused to play for the expansion Mavericks and was traded to Denver?

Kiki VanDeWeghe, the 11th overall pick out of UCLA, never suited up for Dallas and was dealt to Denver for draft picks, one of which became Rolando Blackman.

Which guard, signed from the CBA's Anchorage Northern Knights, played 12 years for Dallas and had his No. 15 retired?

Brad Davis had been waived by the Lakers, who drafted him, and was playing in Alaska when Dallas called in December 1980; in 1992 his became the first number the team retired.

Whom did the Mavericks select with the first overall pick in the 1981 draft?

Mark Aguirre scored 24.6 points a game for Dallas until a 1989 trade sent him to Detroit, where he won two titles beside his close friend Isiah Thomas.

Where did the Mavericks play the deciding game of their first playoff series win in 1984, with Reunion Arena booked?

Moody Coliseum, SMU's gym, stepped in because a pro tennis tournament had Reunion Arena; Dallas beat Seattle 105–104 in overtime there, a night remembered as Moody Madness.

Which troubled Mavericks big man won 1988 Sixth Man of the Year and was later banned for life twice?

Roy Tarpley's third substance-abuse violation in 1991 brought the first ban; reinstated for 1994–95, he was banned for life again in 1995.

Why did rookie Jim Jackson miss most of 1992–93?

A contract holdout kept Jim Jackson out until March 1993. In December, with Dallas 1–14, he had vowed never to play for the team; he signed anyway and stayed until 1997.

What nickname did the Mavericks' mid-1990s trio of top-four draft picks share?

The Three Js were Jim Jackson, Jamal Mashburn and a No. 2 pick at point guard; they never made the playoffs together, and all three were traded between December 1996 and February 1997.

Which future two-time All-Star did Dallas get for its star point guard in 1996?

Michael Finley, then in his second season, became the face of the revival: two All-Star Games and, in 2001, Dallas's first playoff trip in 11 years.

Which centre came to Dallas in the 1997 trade that sent Jim Jackson and Sam Cassell to New Jersey?

Shawn Bradley, all 7-foot-6 of him, stayed in Dallas until 2005; born in West Germany, he even played for Germany beside Dirk Nowitzki at EuroBasket 2001.

Mark Cuban bought the Mavericks in January 2000, months after selling which company to Yahoo for $5.7 billion?

Broadcast.com, earlier named AudioNet, got Cuban's backing in 1995 because he wanted to hear Indiana University basketball online. Yahoo paid $5.7 billion in stock, and the Mavericks cost him $285 million.

Which Mavericks signing in 2001 became the first Chinese player in the NBA?

Wang Zhizhi was drafted in 1999, but his Chinese army club refused to release him for two years; he finally debuted in April 2001, a year and a half before Yao Ming.

What sat on top of the letter M in the Mavericks' original logo, used until 2001?

A cowboy hat, modelled on the founding owner's trademark white Stetson, hung on the M for two decades; the 2001 rebrand replaced it with a horse's head.

Which team's 15–0 start in 1993–94 did the 2002–03 Mavericks fall one win short of?

Houston Rockets opened 1993–94 at 15–0. Dallas reached 14–0 by winning in Detroit, then lost at Indiana the very next night and still went on to win 60 games.

What nickname did fans give the silver alternate uniforms the Mavericks scrapped after one game in 2003?

Trash Bags fit because the shiny silver fabric darkened with sweat on television in the 2003 opener at the Lakers; Mark Cuban pulled the uniforms after that one game.

Which rapper designed the green alternate 'Mavs' uniforms introduced in 2004–05?

Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs designed the green 'Mavs' alternates, which revived the colour of the team's 1980s road uniforms.

Which former Spurs guard became head coach in March 2005 and Coach of the Year in 2006?

Avery Johnson went 194–70 in Dallas, a .735 regular-season winning percentage that stood as the franchise's best.

Which team beat the Mavericks in the 2006 NBA Finals after Dallas won the first two games?

The Miami Heat trailed Game 3 by 13 midway through the fourth quarter, stole it 98–96 behind Dwyane Wade's 42 points, and won the next three as well.

Which chain did Mark Cuban work a shift at after saying the NBA's referee boss couldn't manage one?

Dairy Queen took offence and invited him to try, and Cuban served Blizzards behind a counter in Coppell, Texas, while fans lined up outside.

Which Maverick joined Dirk Nowitzki as an All-Star in the 67-win 2006–07 season?

Josh Howard, only the 29th pick of the 2003 draft, made his one All-Star Game that winter; the 67-win season then ended in a first-round loss to eighth-seeded Golden State.

Which coach led the eighth-seeded Warriors to their 2007 first-round upset of the Mavericks?

Don Nelson, who had coached Dallas until March 2005, had already beaten his old team three times that regular season before the 4–2 series upset.

Which centre did the Mavericks acquire from Charlotte in July 2010?

Tyson Chandler, acquired for Erick Dampier's non-guaranteed contract, anchored the defence of the 2011 title team and made the All-Defensive Second Team.

Which Mavericks sixth man led all scorers with 27 points in the title-clinching Game 6 of the 2011 Finals?

Jason Terry scored 27 off the bench in the 105–95 clincher in Miami; he had been so sure of the title that he had the championship trophy tattooed on his right biceps before the season.

Against which team did Dirk Nowitzki score 48 in the 2011 West finals opener?

Oklahoma City Thunder defenders kept fouling him, and his 24 makes without a miss set a playoff record; he needed only 15 shots from the field, and Dallas won the series in five.

Which Miami player scored only eight points in Game 4 of the 2011 Finals, which Dallas won 86–83?

LeBron James took only 11 shots and finished in single digits for the first time in 90 career playoff games; Dallas tied the series that night and did not lose again.

Trailing 2–1 in the 2011 Finals, which backup guard did Dallas start in Game 4?

J.J. Barea took DeShawn Stevenson's starting spot to speed up the offence, and Dallas won all three games that followed to take the title.

Which point guard started for the Mavericks' 2011 championship team?

Jason Kidd, 38, had lost two Finals with New Jersey before winning his only title as a player that June; ten years later he came back for a third stint in Dallas, as head coach.

The 2011–12 Mavericks became only the third defending champion to suffer what fate?

Being swept in the first round had happened to only two earlier champions, in 1957 and 2007; Dallas led Game 4 by 13 in the fourth quarter before James Harden's 15-point burst finished the series.

Which team did the Mavericks beat 123–70 in November 2014, their biggest win to that point?

The Philadelphia 76ers arrived winless and left 0–8, beaten by 53; Dirk Nowitzki needed only 20 minutes for his 21 points, and the margin topped a 50-point win from January 2010.

Whose record for seasons with one NBA team did Dirk Nowitzki break?

Kobe Bryant spent all 20 of his seasons with the Lakers; Nowitzki passed him in December 2018, once ankle surgery had healed, and scored 30 in his final home game that April.

Which team drafted Luka Dončić third overall in 2018 before trading him to Dallas on draft night?

The Atlanta Hawks moved down two spots in the draft-night swap and also collected a protected 2019 first-round pick from Dallas.

Which player did Dallas get in January 2019 for Dennis Smith Jr., DeAndre Jordan, Wesley Matthews and two first-round picks?

Kristaps Porziņģis arrived while rehabbing a torn ACL; one of the picks, a 2023 first, was top-10 protected, which is why Dallas rested its stars at the end of 2022–23 and drew a $750,000 fine.

Where did Luka Dončić record a 41-point triple-double against Detroit in December 2019?

Mexico City heard Luka Dončić greet the crowd in Spanish, picked up in his teenage years at Real Madrid, before his 41 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists beat Detroit 122–111.

Which 64-win team did the Mavericks upset in 2022, winning Game 7 by 33 on the road?

The Phoenix Suns led the series 3–2 before Dallas took Games 6 and 7, winning the finale 123–90 in Phoenix with Dončić scoring 35.

Whom did the Mavericks acquire from Brooklyn in 2023 for Finney-Smith and Dinwiddie?

Kyrie Irving came over in February 2023 along with Markieff Morris, but Dallas still missed the playoffs and re-signed him that summer.

Which team beat the Mavericks in five games in the 2024 NBA Finals?

The Boston Celtics won in five; Dallas's lone win was a 122–84 Game 4 blowout, a 38-point margin that ranked third-largest in Finals history.

Which player did the Mavericks get from the Lakers in the February 2025 Luka Dončić trade?

Anthony Davis came with Max Christie and a 2029 first-round pick, strained a muscle in his Dallas debut, and was traded on to Washington a year later, in February 2026.

The Mavericks beat sub-2 percent odds to win the 2025 lottery and picked whom first overall?

Cooper Flagg fell to a team that had sat 11th in the lottery order, three months after it traded Luka Dončić; the Duke forward went on to win Rookie of the Year.

Which casino magnates bought a majority stake in the Mavericks in December 2023?

Miriam Adelson and Patrick Dumont, of the Las Vegas Sands family, took control; Mark Cuban kept a minority stake, and Dumont replaced him as governor.

Which ex-AT&T executive became the first Black woman CEO of an NBA franchise with the Mavericks in 2018?

Cynthia Marshall, a longtime AT&T executive, was hired as CEO in February 2018 after a Sports Illustrated investigation into workplace misconduct in the front office.

Which guard left Dallas as a free agent in 2022 after a breakout playoff run?

Jalen Brunson, the 33rd pick in 2018, scored 41 against Utah that spring with Luka Dončić injured, left that summer, and in 2026 was Finals MVP for the NBA champions.

Which ABA team left Dallas in 1973 and became the San Antonio Spurs?

Dallas Chaparrals crowds were so thin that the owners leased the team to San Antonio investors in 1973; the new city turned out in such numbers that the lease soon became a sale.

Which Grammy-winning artist co-designed the Mavericks' 2023–24 'City' uniform honouring R&B history?

Leon Bridges, a soul singer raised in Fort Worth, worked on a set called Trinity River Blues, a nod to North Texas's blues pioneers; guitar strings are embossed on it and his signature sits on the tag.

The Mavericks' 2020–21 'City' uniform in white, gold and silver was inspired by which Dallas symbol?

Pegasus, a red neon horse, went up on the Magnolia building in 1934 for an oil convention; that original wore out, and a replica was first lit on the roof at midnight on New Year's Day 2000.

Dallas drafted Sam Perkins fourth in 1984, one pick after which player?

Michael Jordan, his North Carolina teammate, went third to Chicago; Dallas held the next pick only because Cleveland had traded it away in 1980 for guard Mike Bratz.

Which coach's autocratic style produced a 13–69 season in 1993–94 and got him fired?

Quinn Buckner, an NCAA champion under Bob Knight at Indiana, tried to rule a young roster with an iron fist, started 1–23, and was fired with four years left on his contract.

Which veteran did Mark Cuban put up in his own guest house when Dallas signed him in February 2000?

Dennis Rodman moved into Cuban's guest house until the league put a stop to it; he lasted 12 games and was released in March, hours after criticising Cuban.

Which point guard did Dallas trade for on the same 1998 draft night it landed Dirk Nowitzki?

Steve Nash became an All-Star in Dallas, but the team let him leave as a free agent in 2004, and he was named MVP in each of the next two seasons.

Who was hired as Mavericks head coach in May 2008 after a first-round playoff exit?

Rick Carlisle stayed 13 seasons, won the 2011 title, and resigned in June 2021, a day after the general manager left; his 555 wins were a team record.

Whose controversial 2009 playoff three, after an uncalled foul by Antoine Wright, beat Dallas 106-105?

Carmelo Anthony's three with one second left put Denver up 3–0; the league admitted a foul should have been called on Antoine Wright, and the Nuggets won in five.

Which team did the Mavericks rout 128–78 in January 2010?

The New York Knicks lost by 50 at Madison Square Garden, then their worst defeat ever in the building, to a Dallas side missing two starters; it stayed Dallas's biggest win until 2014.

Whose buzzer-beater won Game 3 of the 2014 first-round series against the top-seeded Spurs?

Vince Carter's corner three at the horn won Game 3 109–108, answering a Manu Ginóbili shot with 1.7 seconds left; the top seed took the series in seven.

Which two players came out of the picks Dallas traded away for Luka Dončić in 2018?

Trae Young and Cam Reddish both trace to that night: Dallas drafted Young fifth itself, swapped him for the third pick, and added a protected 2019 first-rounder that landed tenth.

Which general manager defended the 2025 Dončić trade by saying 'defense wins championships'?

Nico Harrison, hired from Nike in 2021, faced 'Fire Nico' chants from home crowds for the next nine months, and Dallas dismissed him in November 2025.

Whose No. 12 did the Mavericks retire in January 2018?

Derek Harper was working the game as the team's TV analyst and left his courtside seat at halftime to watch his number go up; it was only the third number Dallas had retired.