NBA History: The best era for each of the 30 franchises

Dallas Mavericks: 2000-11

Not a peep was made when the Dallas Mavericks made a draft-day deal to acquire Dirk Nowitzki in 1998. He was an intriguing seven-footer with a solid outside touch, but international prospects didn’t inspire nearly as much confidence back then, raising questions regarding Nowitzki’s ability to handle the rigors of the NBA.

It took Dirk a couple of years to acclimate himself, but his third season was the first of what wound up being over a decade’s worth of seasons averaging over 20 points per game.

Not so coincidentally, Nowitzki’s emergence coincided with a return to the postseason for the Mavericks, ending a 10-year playoff drought and starting a string of 11 consecutive years competing for a championship.

Dallas became a perennial playoff contender for most of the 2000s but continuously fell short. There was the infamous Finals loss to the Miami Heat in 2006, where a 2-0 lead was followed up with four straight losses. The Mavs came back the next year with 67 wins, only to suffer an opening-round defeat to the eighth-seeded Golden State Warriors.

The constant failures that mocked Nowitzki bubbled to the surface during the 2011 playoffs. Flanked by battle-tested veterans, he carried the Mavericks with a nightly display of his vast offensive arsenal that resulted in the franchise’s only championship.

One can’t mention the Mavericks without simultaneously speaking glowingly of the greatest player to ever don their jersey. Just about everything of value to Dallas is a result of Nowitzki’s greatness, the same few believed was even a possibility over 20 years ago.