When the Dallas Mavericks joined the league in the early-80s, it didn't take long for the team to contend, as they reached the Western Conference Semifinals in just their fourth season. From 1984 to 1990, the Mavericks were pretty much postseason mainstays, missing the playoffs just once in that stretch.
The beginning of the 90s, however, also marked the beginning of a decade-long playoff drought for the youngest of the NBA's three Texas teams.
It was during the 1998 NBA Draft that the Mavericks made a series of moves that would ultimately be the catalyst for their success at the turn of the century. The first one was trading for a sweet-shooting rookie out of Germany named Dirk Nowitzki , and the other was engineering a deal to get young playmaker Steve Nash.
While the Nowitzki-Nash partnership didn't immediately yield results, they finally broke their playoff drought in 2001 and reached the conference semifinals. Over the next three seasons, Nowitzki and Nash would turn the Mavericks into perennial contenders, powering the team to consecutive 50-plus-win seasons and playoff trips, culminating in a 2003 conference finals appearance.
Unfortunately, that conference finals appearance would be the peak of Nowitzki and Nash's playoff journey as teammates, as the 2004 offseason would bring about a massive change.
By 2004, Nash was already a two-time All-Star and one of the league's best playmakers, and had hoped to remain with the Mavericks.
Unfortunately for Nash, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban wasn't willing to match the six-year, $63 million deal that the Phoenix Suns offered, so he ended up signing with the team that initially drafted him in 1996.
It was definitely a big loss for the Mavericks, who were finding their groove in terms of playoff success.
Perhaps one of the people that Nash's departure hit the hardest was Mavericks head coach Don Nelson .
In an article published in the Star-Telegram, Nelson shared his sentiments about not being able to keep Nash.
"I love Steve Nash. I never dreamed that we would ever lose Steve Nash or any other player of his magnitude," Nelson said candidly.
"I thought, during his time here, he helped us get from being a very, very poor team to become a very, very good team," Nelson added.
Indeed, Nash helped turn the Mavericks into legitimate contenders. Unfortunately, he and Nowitzki just couldn't get over the hump.
And while Nash would go on to do great things back in Phoenix, it wasn't downhill for the Mavericks, not at all.
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With the Suns, Nash became the conductor of one of the most exciting and fast-paced offenses at the time. In his first two seasons back in Phoenix, Nash won back-to-back Most Valuable Player honors and propelled the Suns to back-to-back conference finals appearances.
Unfortunately, they just couldn't make it to the big dance. To add a little insult to injury, it was the Mavericks who beat them in the conference finals in 2006. They would return to the conference finals in 2010, but would come up short once again, this time at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Nash would, coincidentally enough, join the Lakers in 2012. A back injury would ultimately force Nash to retire in 2014.
As for the Mavericks, Nowitzki would continue to anchor the team and lead them to consecutive postseason appearances from 2005 to 2012. In that stretch, the Mavericks reached two NBA Finals and won the title in 2011, behind the leadership of Nowitzki, who had also blossomed into an MVP.
Dirk and the Mavericks would return to the playoffs for three straight seasons from 2013 to 2015, but would miss the postseason over the next three years, a run bookended by Nowitzki's retirement in 2019. The Mavericks made it back to the playoffs in 2020, this time behind the charge of another talented European by the name of Luka Doncic.
And while Nash and the Mavericks went on to have their own levels of success following their split in 2004, you still have to wonder how things would have gone had Nash stayed with Nowitzki in Dallas.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Oct 12, 2026, where it first appeared in the Old School section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
