The Dallas Mavericks have had some great players suit up for them in their 44 seasons in the NBA. Trying to come up with an all-time starting five for the franchise would be a tricky task, but it was one that was given to team owner Mark Cuban, and he made some interesting selections.
“Dirk (Nowitzki), Tyson (Chandler) at the center, Rolando (Blackman), Derek (Harper), and I’ll go with Mark Aguirre,” Cuban said on the All The Smoke podcast.
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Dirk Nowitzki is the greatest player in Mavericks history, so that was an obvious pick. Nowitzki played all 21 seasons of his NBA career with the Mavs, averaging 20.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.8 blocks per game.
Dirk took the Mavericks to the NBA Finals twice and led them to their only championship in 2011. With him on that title-winning team was Tyson Chandler. Chandler only played two seasons with the Mavs, averaging 10.2 points, 10.4 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 0.5 steals, and 1.1 blocks per game, but was key to them winning it all.
As for the other three, they were part of what was the first successful core in team history in the 1980s. Mark Aguirre was perhaps the biggest star of the three, as he spent seven and a half seasons with the Mavs, averaging 24.6 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game.
Rolando Blackman, meanwhile, was with the Mavs for 11 seasons, during which he averaged 19.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game. Lastly, Derek Harper spent 11 and a half seasons in two stints in Dallas, averaging 14.4 points, 2.6 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 1.8 steals and 0.3 blocks per game.
While all five deserve a lot of respect for their accomplishments with the franchise, Cuban not including Luka Doncic is an interesting decision. In six seasons for the Mavericks, he has put up impressive averages of 27.7 points, 8.5 rebounds, 8.0 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game.
The 24-year-old has made the All-NBA First Team four times and has led the franchise to the Western Conference Finals once as well. We included Doncic in our all-time Mavericks starting lineup, and I also believe he has done enough to merit a spot on there.
As long as he stays with the Mavericks for much of his career, it’s hard to see how Doncic doesn’t end up as the greatest or second-greatest player in franchise history. For now, though, Luka has to settle for just a spot on the list of the 10 greatest Mavericks players of all time.
Mark Cuban Revealed How He Traded For Luka Doncic On Draft Night
Cuban has faced a fair bit of criticism in recent years from fans for some of the mistakes he has made in terms of running the team. One decision you have to give him credit for, though, is landing Doncic on draft night in 2018. In this episode, Cuban revealed how the Mavericks traded Trae Young for Luka.
“Our scouts liked him, our analytics guys loved him. Our numbers guys were like this is the only superstar in the class. For the trade, we tried and tried, and it was like 15 minutes to go before our pick. I called the owner of Atlanta. ‘You’re not picking Luka and you know the guy you want. Let’s just do this deal because he’ll be there for you. We’ll give you a pick. Instead of the General Managers messing around, let’s get it done.’ And we got it done.”
It’s crazy when you think of just how different the last few seasons would have been had Doncic remained on the Atlanta Hawks. A lot of owners don’t always listen to their analytics and scouting departments in these situations, but Cuban did and he took that extra step to land the Slovenian. It has certainly gone down as the best decision he has made since becoming the owner.
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