Best Dallas Mavericks Players in History
The Dallas Mavericks may have just one NBA title, but Dallas fans have had the luxury of watching so many great players represent their club.
From Mark Aguirre to Dirk Nowitzki and now Luka Doncic, there has been a constant sprinkle of stardust in the relatively short history of the franchise.
This array of star names, a charismatic owner, and an exciting brand of basketball has turned Dallas into one of the most followed and most marketable brands in the league.
The Mavs have attracted an impressive range of sponsors, from FinTech companies like Chime to sports betting brands like Betway. Safe to say that these brands have got good value for money!
Betway, for example, is now viewed as a major player in the American sports betting industry, with their sportsbook offers rated amongst the best betting bonuses in the US.
Dallas may not have the rich, title-winning history of the Lakers or the Celtics, but they have got a very unique appeal. And with players like Doncic continuing to fly the flag, the Mavs can never be ignored.
Doncic has only spent a few years in Dallas but is already an all-time great.
Who else joins Luka on our list of the top 10 Mavericks players of all time?
1) Dirk Nowitzki
Of course, it had to be Dirk at No. 1!
Dirk Nowitzki will forever go down in history as the spearhead of Dallas’ run to a first NBA title, but he is a lot more than that.
The 2011 title-winning run was undoubtedly Nowitzki’s greatest achievement, but he was already an incredible NBA force before that crowning season.
Nowitzki was the 9th overall pick in the 1995 draft, selected by the Milwaukee Bucks, and he became one of the greatest power forwards to grace the NBA.
Following the draft, he was immediately traded to Dallas, where he would spend his entire NBA career.
In Nowitzki’s 21 seasons with the Mavs, the team reached the postseason 16 times, with the peak of a glorious career coming in 2011 when he powered the Mavs to their first and only NBA title.
The German was NBA Finals MVP in that 2011 run, and fittingly, the 14-time all-star has had his famous No. 41 retired by Dallas.
2) Luka Doncic
The post-2011 championship era (and subsequently post-Nowitzki era) was pretty quiet for Dallas, as they failed to make the playoffs in four of the next nine seasons and lost in the first round in the other five years.
They rebounded back into reckoning in the late 2010s following the acquisition of Luka Doncic.
After impressing in Europe, Slovenia’s Doncic crossed over to the United States via the 2018 NBA Draft. He was selected by the Atlanta Hawks as the third overall pick and was traded straightway to Dallas.
Doncic’s impact in Dallas and the league as a whole was immediate.
He won Rookie of the Year in his debut season and made the Western Conference All-Star team in his second season.
The Slovenian has been a constant force in the league ever since, breaking all sorts of scoring and youngest-ever records.
He already owns the record for the most triple-doubles by a Dallas player. Doncic propelled Dallas to the Western Conference finals in 2022, where they lost to the Golden State Warriors. If anyone can lead the Mavs to another title, it’s definitely Luka.
3) Jason Kidd
Hall of Famer Jason Kidd was in Dallas’ Championship-winning team of 2011, crowing a memorable career with that much-coveted ring.
Drafted as the second overall pick by the Mavs in 1994, he was co-rookie of the year in his debut season with the Mavs, but that initial stint didn’t last long, as he crossed over to Phoenix in 1996.
After five years with the Suns, Kidd played for New Jersey Nets from 2001 to 2008 before being traded back to Dallas.
While he guided the Nets to consecutive NBA finals in 2002 and 2003, the 10-time all-star couldn’t get over the line, but that dream was finally realized on his return to Dallas.
Despite being 38 years old at the time, Kidd was the starting point guard through that season, helping the Mavs overcome a 2-1 deficit to beat Miami in the final.
His commutative playing career with Dallas was relatively short, but he cemented his legendary status with a starring role in their run to their only NBA title so far.
4) Jason Terry
Jason Terry’s NBA career spanned six franchises, but it was at Dallas that he enjoyed his longest and most successful spell.
Terry began his NBA career with the Atlanta Hawks in 1999 and was traded to Dallas in 2004.
Terry was instrumental in the Mavs’ progress to their first NBA final in 2006- a final they heartbreakingly lost in six despite going 2-0 against the Miami Heat.
Redemption would come for Terry and Dallas in 2011 when they defeated the Heat in six to claim their maiden title.
Terry was not always a starter for Dallas but earned a reputation as one of the best players coming off the bench. He won the Sixth Man of the Year award in 2009.
5) Ronaldo Blackman
Born in Panama in 1959, Ronaldo Blackman joined the Dallas Mavericks in 1981, when he was drafted as the ninth overall pick in the first round.
He would go on to spend most of his professional career with the Mavs, leading them to their first-ever playoff appearance in 1984. Dallas lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in the second round of that season, but with Blackman in their ranks, the Mavs continued to push and reached their maiden Western Conference Final in 1988.
Unfortunately, the Mavs again ran into the Lakers, losing to their Western rivals in Game 7.
A four-time All-Star, Blackman played for the Mavs up until 1992, scoring 16,643 points, a franchise record that stood for 18 years.
6) Mark Aguirre
Mark Aguirre was the first overall draft pick in 1981 and was with Dallas until 1989 when he was traded to the Detroit Pistons.
Aguirre was the main man in Dallas’ ascent in the 1980s, averaging over 22 points per game for six consecutive seasons between 1982 and the 1988-89 campaign.
Together with Ronaldo Blackman, Aguirre turned Dallas into a playoff team, propelling the Mavs into the postseason for the first time in 1984, when they went all the way to the semi-finals.
Four years later, Dallas made the Western Conference Final for the first time, losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 7.
Aguirre scored 13,930 points for Dallas, putting him third on the all-time list behind Nowitzki and Blackman.
After his 1989 move to Detroit, he won consecutive NBA titles with the Pistons in 89 and 1990.
7) Michael Finley
After impressing with the Phoenix Suns in his rookie season (1995-1996), Michael Finley was traded to the Dallas Mavericks at the end of 1996 and became a pivotal member of the team through the late 90s and early 2000s.
During Finley’s initial years, Dallas struggled to make the playoffs, but he was instrumental in transforming their fortunes, with the Mavs ending a decade-long absence from the postseason in 2001.
During his Dallas days, Finley made All-Star appearances in 2000 and 2001.
He would leave the Mavs in 2005, joining San Antonio Spurs, with whom he won his only NBA championship.
8) Steve Nash
Steve Nash made a relatively low-key entry into the NBA, selected as the 15th overall pick by the Phoenix Suns in 1996, but he would end his career as one of the finest point guards in the history of the game.
After an underwhelming early spell at Phoenix, Nash was traded to Dallas in 1998, and his career properly took off from there.
Along with good friends Nowitzki, and Michael Finley, Nash was at the core of the team that revived Dallas’ fortunes, as they returned to the playoffs in the 2000-2001 season after a decade away from the postseason.
Unfortunately, Dallas never managed to get over the line during Nash’s impressive era, with the closest they came to the title being their 2003 Western Conference Final loss to play-off nemesis, San Antonio Spurs.
Nash controversially left Dallas as a free agent in 2004, rejoining Phoenix, where he continued his merry ways, running the floor in the way only he can do.
He was a 10-time All-Star but never managed to win the NBA Championship.
9) Derek Harper
Derek Harper had two spells with Dallas, first from 1983 to 1993 and then a brief second stint from 1996-1997.
Renowned for his efficiency at both ends of the court, Harper is considered one of the greatest NBA players ever to have been selected for an all-star team.
He was drafted by the Mavs as the 11th overall pick in 1983 and became part of the roster that excelled in the mid-to-late 80s.
The highlight of his Dallas career, like his other 80s contemporaries, was reaching the Western Conference Final in 1988.
His No. 12 Jersey was retired by the Mavericks in January 2018.
10) Brad Davis
After an underwhelming start to an NBA career that featured spells with the Los Angeles Lakers, Indiana Pacers, Detroit Pistons, and Utah Jazz, Brad Davis finally found his home in Dallas, where he joined in 1980.
Davis was the ninth overall pick in the first round of the 1977 draft, joining the Lakers, but he never really got going until he eventually found his way to Dallas via Indiana, Utah, and a little bit of Detroit.
The point guard was part of the Dallas team that became a regular play-off fixture in the mid-to-late 80s, joining forces with the likes of Aguirre and Blackman to help the Mavs to the 1988 Western Conference Final.
As a mark of his contribution to Dallas basketball, Davis’ jersey No. 15 was retired by the Mavs- the first time a number would be retired in the Mavs’ history.
