- NBA Championships: 1
- Last NBA Championship: 2011
- Claim to Fame: The Mavericks have sold out over 725 consecutive home games at American Airlines Center since 2001.
- Claim to Shame: The Mavs won just 11 games during the 1992-93 season.
Few teams have experienced more highs and lows than the Dallas Mavericks, who have endured a soul-crushing 11-win season and celebrated the euphoria of an NBA championship.
Their story begins in 1980 when they entered the league as a lowly expansion team. The Mavs won just 15 games that season, but steadily improved year by year and enjoyed a string of five straight playoff appearances beginning in 1984.
That early success got fans hooked, which is a good thing since Dallas stunk worse than a beer and bratwurst fart during much of the 1990’s. The Mavs won a combined 24 games over one particularly forgettable two-year span and failed to qualify for the playoffs for ten consecutive seasons.
Fortunately, things began to change in 1998 when Dallas drafted a gangly German by the name of Dirk Nowitzki and signed a Canadian point guard with frosted tips named Steve Nash. The two players became inseparable and, along with shooting guard Michael Finley, transformed Dallas into a perennial 50-win team.
Nash eventually left during free agency, but Dallas’ good fortune continued. The Mavs reached the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history in 2006 and won their first title in 2011 by defeating the heavily favored Miami Heat in a topsy-turvy six game series.
Dallas’ recent history has not been quite so glorious as the Mavs have missed the postseason in each of the last three years. Last year presented a step forward, as Luka Doncic broke out as expected in his rookie season and they swung a trade for Kristaps Porzingis, who had grown disgruntled in New York.
Those two will look to develop a connection this season as the future of the team down the road, and with an improved roster Dallas could compete for the 8 seed in the West this season.
