Mavs chaos runs deeper than Harrison dismissal

By David Mullen

On November 11, the Dallas Mavericks ownership fired GM Nico Harrison, the orchestrator of one of the worst trades in sports history. Not only did he trade fan favorite and once-in-a-generation player Luka Doncic to the hated Los Angeles Lakers for aging and oft-injured forward Anthony “Street Clothes” Davis, he made another unforgivable judgement call. He refused to care about Mavericks fans.

In the 46 years that the Dallas Mavericks have been members of the National Basketball Association, the team has had four distinctly different ownership groups, and the fans have adapted.   

The Mavericks were founded as an expansion team in 1980 by Home Interiors and Gifts president Don Carter, who had been charged with running the family business by his mother. Home Interiors and Gifts relied on a primarily female door-to-door sales force to sell home décor items. Fast breaks and slam dunks were far removed from scented candles and artificial flowers. To Carter, the Mavericks seemed to be a novelty, much like the products he peddled. But he was kind, deeply religious and local.

While Carter was not well versed in professional sports, his wife Linda played basketball at Duncanville High School. Don considered an NBA franchise as a gift to Linda. Her main responsibility was to maintain the decorum of the Mavericks cheerleading squad by dressing them in attire more fit for “The Handsmade Tale” than an NBA court surrounded by wealthy, testosterone-infused businessmen. 

At the time, there was consideration to move a struggling Buffalo Braves team, led by president and GM Norm Sonju, to Dallas. The Braves would move to San Diego to become the Clippers and Sonju would join the fledgling Mavericks. An expansion team brought the cash strapped NBA a guaranteed franchise fee of $12.5 million where a franchise move would not. Carter would put up half of the expansion money.  

Playing at Reunion Arena, the Mavs became Dallas’ loveable losers. The Dallas Stars were still in Minneapolis. Home games were fun and noisy, and the fan base was loyal and growing. But the Mavs were making questionable decisions like drafting Detlef Schrempf, Bill Wennington and Uwe Blab in 1984 while Charles Oakley, Joe Dumars and Hall of Famer Karl Malone were available.

After three years of losing, the Mavs finished above .500 in the 1983-84 season. Blackmon, journeyman guard Brad Davis and scorer Mark Aguirre, the 1981 first overall draft pick, led a young winner and fans were on board. But the Mavs couldn’t seem to advance in the playoffs with the nemesis Los Angeles Lakers always lurking. 

The Mavs were a family-friendly enterprise in a league that was about to become global, edgy and teeming with urban cool. While the NBA was embracing rap, the Carters preferred the Ray Coniff Singers.   

If the franchise was to adapt to the times, the Carters had to return to “Pleasantville.”

Carter sold the team to businessman Ross Perot Jr. in 1996 for $135 million, leaving his white cowboy hat on the logo behind. Perot’s reign continued to produce losing teams and the Mavs felt more like an investment than a serious NBA contender. Perot sold the team in 2000 to tech billionaire Mark Cuban for $285 million.

Cuban was a basketball junkie, treated fans with respect and took chances. He knew that the NBA could make money and the fans made the deposits. He got it. He was rowdy, loud and proud and built the team in that image. The “Rowdy, Loud and Proud” tagline wasn’t describing the team. It was defining the team’s fans.

The Mavs would now compete in the suddenly red-hot NBA with a new arena (American Airlines Center) and renewed spirit. Cuban molded the growing loyal fan base to expect the team to win and sold out every game. Under Cuban, the Mavs didn’t fall under .500 for 16 straight seasons and made the playoffs 15 times. Behind Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki and head coach Rick Carlisle, Dallas won the 2011 NBA championship.

In a stunning December 2023 move, Cuban sold a majority stake in the team to the Las Vegas-based Adelson and Dumont families for $3.5 billion. That transaction will become the defining moment in franchise history. The Mavs have their first out of town, absentee ownership after three local owners. 

Long distance relationships rarely work. The Adelson family, led by Miriam Adelson and her son-in-law Patrick Dumont, hold the team’s majority ownership. Their business is gaming, not games. They are using the Mavericks as leverage to gain a casino license and build a betting Xanadu complete with a new basketball arena. With the current state leadership in place, the odds of a Texas casino being built are as likely as Anthony Davis playing in consecutive games without stubbing a toe or pulling a hammy.

After making the NBA Finals in 2024 and facing a bright outlook, the Mavericks are in chaos and the future is dim. Firing Harrison for being the only person on earth thinking that trading Doncic was a good idea will only get Mavs fans to stop chanting “Fire Nico!” Firing Harrison, while warranted, is only window dressing, like many of the products Carter sold to housewives in the 1970s.

The fans, paying a record ticket price under the Adelson/Harrison regime, want a winning basketball team. The Adelsons want a casino in DFW. As Harrison leaves his flippant, smartest man in the room attitude behind, fans are left with the last place Mavs and have little left to be loud and proud about.