Editing Dallas Mavericks (section)

===1978–1981: The creation and early years of the Mavericks===
In 1978, Californian businessman Garn Eckardt met [[Dallas]] lawyer Doug Adkins and mentioned he was trying to raise capital to move an NBA team to Dallas. Asking for a possible partner, Adkins recommended him one of his clients, [[Home Interiors and Gifts]] owner [[Don Carter (businessman)|Don Carter]]. Negotiations with Eckardt fell through, but Carter remained interested in the enterprise as a gift to his wife Linda, who played basketball while at [[Duncanville High School]]. Simultaneously, [[Buffalo Braves]] president and general manager Norm Sonju developed an interest in bringing the NBA to Dallas as he studied possible new locations for the ailing franchise. While the Braves went to California as the [[Los Angeles Clippers#1978–1984: San Diego Clippers|San Diego Clippers]], Sonju eventually returned to Texas. He was introduced to Carter by Mayor [[Robert Folsom]], one of the owners and team president of the last professional basketball team in the city, the Dallas Chaparrals of the [[American Basketball Association]], which moved to [[San Antonio]] in 1973 becoming the [[San Antonio Spurs]]. Sonju and Carter tried purchasing both the [[Milwaukee Bucks]] and the [[Kansas City Kings]], but disagreement on relocation stalled the negotiations, leading them to instead aim for an [[expansion team]].

The league was initially reluctant to expand to Dallas, given Texas had both the Spurs and [[Houston Rockets]]. The [[1978–79 NBA season|1978–79 season]] was proving unprofitable (18 out of the 22 teams lost money) and unpopular (television ratings fell 26 percent). Still, during the [[1979 NBA All-Star Game]] weekend, [[Commissioner of the NBA|NBA commissioner]] [[Larry O'Brien]] announced the league would add two new teams in the [[1980–81 NBA season|1980–81 season]], with teams in Dallas and [[Minneapolis]]. Once the potential Minnesota owners backed out, only Dallas remained. (The [[Minnesota Timberwolves]] would not join until 1989.) Through negotiations with general counselor and future commissioner [[David Stern]], the expansion fee was settled on $12.5&nbsp;million. Carter would provide half the amount.<ref>{{cite web |last=Townsend |first=Brad |title=Archive: A look back at the birth of the Dallas Mavericks |url=http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/dallas-mavericks/headlines/20130501-archive-a-look-back-at-the-birth-of-the-dallas-mavericks.ece |work=[[The Dallas Morning News]] |date=May 1, 2005 |access-date=August 16, 2015 |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924124050/http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/dallas-mavericks/headlines/20130501-archive-a-look-back-at-the-birth-of-the-dallas-mavericks.ece |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/dallas-mavericks/headlines/20140130-david-stern-goes-way-back-with-mavericks-mark-cuban-praises-outgoing-commish-seriously.ece |title=David Stern goes way back with Mavericks; Mark Cuban praises outgoing commish (seriously) |access-date=June 30, 2015 |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924124059/http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/dallas-mavericks/headlines/20140130-david-stern-goes-way-back-with-mavericks-mark-cuban-praises-outgoing-commish-seriously.ece |url-status=live}}</ref>

At the [[1980 NBA All-Star Game]], league owners voted to admit the new team, with the team's name coming from the 1957–1962 TV western [[Maverick (TV series)|''Maverick'']]; the fans chose the title with 4,600 postcards received, beating ''Wranglers'' and ''Express''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Behind The Name – Dallas Mavericks |url=http://www.nba.com/mavericks/history/behind_the_name_06.html |website=Mavs.com |publisher=NBA Media Ventures, LLC |date=December 31, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071226045338/http://www.nba.com/mavericks/history/behind_the_name_06.html |archive-date=December 26, 2007 |access-date=August 16, 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Allen |first=Scott |title=The Origins of All 30 NBA Team Names |url=http://mentalfloss.com/article/23115/origins-all-30-nba-team-names |work=[[Mental Floss]] |date=October 27, 2009 |access-date=August 16, 2015 |archive-date=August 9, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150809134149/http://mentalfloss.com/article/23115/origins-all-30-nba-team-names |url-status=live}}</ref> [[James Garner]], who played the title character, was a member of the ownership group.<ref>{{cite web |last=Woodward |first=Danny |author-link=Danny Woodward |title=In Metroplex, a tale of two Mavericks |publisher=[[ESPN]] |date=May 31, 2011 |url=https://www.espn.com/espn/page2/story?sportCat=nba&page=woodward%2F110531_dallas_mavericks_nickname |access-date=October 26, 2021 |archive-date=October 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026175926/http://www.espn.com/espn/page2/story?sportCat=nba&page=woodward%2F110531_dallas_mavericks_nickname |url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Texas-Arlington Mavericks|University of Texas at Arlington]], who also uses [[Texas–Arlington Mavericks|the Mavericks nickname]], had objections about a shared name but did not attempt any legal action.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.espn.com/espn/page2/story?page=woodward%2F110531_dallas_mavericks_nickname |title=Not all Metroplex Mavericks fans are excited about Dallas Mavericks' success |publisher=ESPN |access-date=June 30, 2015 |archive-date=April 2, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402200139/http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=woodward%2F110531_dallas_mavericks_nickname |url-status=live}}</ref> They joined the Midwest Division of the [[Western Conference (NBA)|Western Conference]], where they would stay until the league went to six divisions for the [[2004–05 NBA season|2004–05 season]]. [[Dick Motta]], who had guided the [[Washington Bullets]] to the NBA Championship in [[1977–78 NBA season|1977–78]], was hired as the team's first [[head coach]].

The Mavs drafted [[Kiki VanDeWeghe]] of [[UCLA Bruins men's basketball|UCLA]] with the 11th pick of the [[1980 NBA draft]]. Still, VanDeWeghe refused to play for the expansion Mavericks and staged a holdout that lasted a month into its inaugural season. VanDeWeghe was traded to the [[Denver Nuggets]], along with a first-round pick, in 1981, in exchange for two future first-round picks that eventually materialized into [[Rolando Blackman]] in [[1981 NBA draft|1981]], and [[Sam Vincent]] in [[1985 NBA draft|1985]].

[[File:Don Carter.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Mavs' founder [[Don Carter (businessman)|Don Carter]]]]
In the Mavericks debut game, taking place in the brand-new [[Reunion Arena]], the Mavericks defeated the Spurs, 103–92. But the Mavs started the season with a 6–40 record on their way to finishing 15–67. However, the Mavericks did make a player acquisition that, while it seemed minor at the time, turned out to play a significant role in the early years of their franchise. Journeyman 6&nbsp;ft 3 in guard [[Brad Davis (basketball)|Brad Davis]], who played for the [[Anchorage Northern Knights]] of the [[Continental Basketball Association]], was tracked down and signed by the Mavericks in December after a scout watched a game with Davis. He had to be convinced to play for the team rather than attend to his studies at the [[University of Maryland]] (which he was funding by playing for Anchorage).<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.mavs.com/mavs-com-braddavis/ |title=Brad Davis had fairytale career with Mavs, ending with jersey retirement |date=May 4, 2020 |access-date=May 9, 2022 |archive-date=May 31, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220531081802/https://www.mavs.com/mavs-com-braddavis/ |url-status=live}}</ref> He would play for the remainder of the season after joining in December. Davis would spend the next twelve years with the Mavericks, and eventually, his number 15 jersey was retired. The Mavericks also marked the first NBA team to have a good debut season, with 7,789 spectators per game.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-08-10-sp-2289-story.html |title=In Texas, Winning Is the Name of the Game |work=Los Angeles Times |date=August 10, 1986 |access-date=June 30, 2015 |archive-date=April 2, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402205026/http://articles.latimes.com/1986-08-10/sports/sp-2289_1_texas-football/2 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The 1981 NBA Draft brought three players who would become vital parts of the team. The Mavs selected forward [[Mark Aguirre]] with the first pick, guard [[Rolando Blackman]] ninth, and forward [[Jay Vincent]] at 24th. By the end of his seven-year Mavericks career, Aguirre would average 24.6 points per game. Blackman contributed 19.2 points over his 11-year career in Dallas. But it was Jay Vincent who made the most significant difference for the Mavs in their second season, leading the team in scoring with 21.4 points per game and earning NBA All-Rookie Team honors. The Mavericks improved to 28–54, getting out of the Midwest Division cellar as they finished above the [[Utah Jazz]].