Each NBA team’s most devastating injury in franchise history

Most devastating injury in Dallas Mavericks history: Dirk Nowitzki

After spending much of the 1990s as cannon fodder for the rest of the Western Conference, the Dallas Mavericks emerged from the doldrums to become a respectable franchise at the turn of the century, thanks to budding young stars Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki.

With Nash and Nowitzki forming instant chemistry on the court, Dallas morphed into a perennial 50-win team. One could argue that the peak of the brief Nash/Nowitzki era came during the 2002-03 season.

The Mavericks won 60 games that year, which at the time was a franchise record, scored a league-best 110.7 points per 100 possessions. They were the best team in the league based on Basketball Reference’s Simple Rating System, which measures team performance based on their record, strength of schedule and point differential.

They eventually reached the Western Conference Finals, where they met Tim Duncan’s San Antonio Spurs for the right to face the eventual Eastern Conference Champion New Jersey Nets in the NBA Finals.

The teams split the first two games of the series, but disaster struck in Game 3. With the Mavericks trailing 80-66 in the fourth quarter, the team’s night got worse when Nowitzki left the game with a knee injury with 7:45 remaining.

Dallas ultimately lost 96-83, but that game cost them more than a game advantage in the best-of-seven tilt, as Nowitzki’s knee issue kept him out for the remainder of the series. While Dallas managed to pick up a win in Game 5, losing their best player proved to be too much for them to overcome, as they fell to the Spurs in six.

Considering how weak that Nets team was, one could wonder if Dallas could have won a championship sooner had Nowitzki stayed healthy for that Western Conference Finals series.