The Dallas Mavericks won their only title in 2011, but one missed free agency signing could have helped the franchise be a premier team of the 2000s.
In the 2000s, the Western Conference was dominated by the San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Lakers.
In the decade, either the Spurs or the Lakers made it to the Finals every single year aside from 2006, when the Dallas Mavericks fell to the Miami Heat. The Mavericks, Phoenix Suns, Houston Rockets, Utah Jazz, and even the Sacramento Kings were playoff staples between 2000 and 2010, although the conference ran through San Antonio and Los Angeles.
Had the Mavericks managed to re-sign a star in 2004, they might have been able to build a dynasty of their own.
During the 2003-04 season, the Mavericks lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Kings. That summer, they would lose Steve Nash in free agency to the Suns.
Nash and Dirk Nowitzki had established themselves as one of the best offensive duos in the league, and as Shaq and Kobe ended their run, the Mavericks looked poised to take the Lakers’ spot at the top of the standings.
However, the Suns were willing to pay Nash more than the Mavericks, and he bounced in free agency.
“Mark Cuban was convinced that durability concerns would catch up to Steve Nash,” explained former Mavericks’ beat writer Marc Stein. “So Mark Cuban set a limit in his head. He was only going to go four years, $36 million. So the Suns offer two years and $30 million better.”
Nash took the money, and it’s hard not to blame him. He would go on to win back-to-back MVPs in his first two seasons with the Suns, although he would never make the NBA Finals.
While Nash was able to run a fast-paced offense with Shawn Marion, Amar’e Stoudemire, and Joe Johnson, he never again played with as versatile of a scorer as Dirk, who led the Mavericks to their lone title in 2011.
At the end of the day, the Suns were simply willing to pay more, breaking up one of the better duos the league has ever seen before they could even truly get off the ground.
“The Suns put such a considerable offer on the table, and Mark Cuban didn’t want to raise his offer,” Stein explained. “How do you say no to an extra $30 million to go back to the team that drafted you?”
With Nash, the Mavericks made the playoffs in four out of five years, averaging 52 wins per season, although they struggled in the playoffs against the best teams.
Without Nash, it took the Mavericks several seasons to recover. While they made the playoffs in every season until 2013, they became the third first-seed to lose to an eighth-seed, falling to the We Believe Golden State Warriors in 2007, the year Dirk won MVP.
While Nash found more than his fair share of individual success in Phoenix, the Mavericks could have taken the mantle from the Lakers had he stayed in Dallas. Cuban refused to shell out, and he quickly regretted it.
“It was Steve’s choice to leave for money. It was my choice not to pay him the money,” explained Cuban in 2004.
While trading away Luka Doncic to the Lakers might be the biggest blunder in franchise history, the fallout is yet to be truly revealed, and for now, the biggest “what if” in team history remains their 2004 free agency loss.
