Dallas Mavericks

The Dallas Mavericks entered the NBA as an expansion team in 1980 and, unlike most expansion franchises, became competitive quickly. By the mid-1980s, led by Mark Aguirre, Rolando Blackman, Derek Harper, and Sam Perkins, the Mavericks were a legitimate playoff team, reaching the Western Conference Finals in 1988. The combination of Aguirre's scoring and Blackman's smooth mid-range game made Dallas one of the more entertaining teams of the era.

However, the franchise collapsed in the late 1980s and early 1990s through a combination of bad trades, poor draft choices, and mismanagement. The Mavericks became one of the worst teams in professional sports, posting a combined record of 47-199 from 1992 to 1994 - a stretch that included an 11-71 season in 1992-93. Reunion Arena was nearly empty, and the franchise's future in Dallas was in question.

The suffering was about to end. A new owner and a German teenager would transform everything.

Two events in quick succession transformed the Mavericks. In the 1998 draft, Dallas selected Dirk Nowitzki, a 7-foot German forward with a shooting touch that no player his size had ever possessed. In 2000, Mark Cuban purchased the franchise for $285 million, bringing an owner's passion and willingness to spend that the NBA had never seen.

Nowitzki developed into one of the greatest scorers in NBA history, pioneering the stretch-big archetype that would come to define modern basketball. His one-legged fadeaway became the most unguardable shot in the sport. With Steve Nash running the offense in the early 2000s and a rotating cast of complementary players, the Mavericks became a perennial 50-win team and Western Conference contender.

The Mavericks reached the NBA Finals in 2006, taking a 2-0 series lead against the Miami Heat before losing four straight in one of the most stunning collapses in Finals history. The defeat was devastating, particularly for Nowitzki, but it planted the seed of a redemption story that would rank among the greatest in sports.

The 2010-11 Mavericks were not favored to win the championship. They were an aging team built around a 32-year-old Nowitzki, with role players like Jason Terry, Shawn Marion, Jason Kidd, and Tyson Chandler providing support. But Nowitzki was on a mission. In the playoffs, Dallas swept the defending champion Lakers, defeated the young Oklahoma City Thunder, and then faced the Miami Heat's superteam of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh in the Finals.

Nowitzki was transcendent, playing through a torn tendon in his left hand and a sinus infection while delivering one of the greatest Finals performances ever. The Mavericks won the series in six games, and Nowitzki - the player who had been criticized for being "too soft" after the 2006 collapse - was named Finals MVP. It was the ultimate redemption, a championship won through sheer force of will by a player whose loyalty to one franchise was becoming increasingly rare.

Nowitzki continued playing until 2019, spending all 21 of his NBA seasons in Dallas - the longest one-team career of any player in league history. His farewell season was an emotional victory lap, with opposing arenas giving him standing ovations in every city.