Editing Dallas Mavericks (section)

===1990–1998: Rebuilding===

====1990–1994: Free falling====
The team endured numerous changes in 1990, losing Sam Perkins to the Lakers via free agency and suffering injuries to practically their entire [[1990–91 NBA season|1990–91]] starting lineup. The players they managed to acquire—[[Rodney McCray (basketball)|Rodney McCray]], [[Fat Lever]], and [[Alex English]]—were all in the twilight of their careers. On November 9, it was announced that Fat Lever would have season-ending surgery on his right knee, and that very night, Tarpley suffered a knee injury of his own, which ended his season. The Mavericks' season only got worse from there, and they finished with a record of 28–54, falling behind even the second-year [[Minnesota Timberwolves]] and [[Orlando Magic]]. In March 1991, Tarpley was charged with suspicion of [[driving while intoxicated]] and was suspended again by the NBA.
 		
It got even worse in [[1991–92 NBA season|1991–92]]. Before the season even began, Tarpley violated the league's substance abuse policy for the third time and was banned from the NBA for life. The former Sixth Man Award winner's fall from grace was complete. The few talented players the Mavericks had remaining to them were lost to injury. Brad Davis' back problems forced him to retire in mid-January, and Fat Lever had knee surgery again on January 29, missing the remainder of the season—hardly worth the cost of losing two first-round draft picks. The team finished with a 22–60 record.

In [[1992–93 NBA season|1992–93]], the rebuilding began in earnest, with the Mavs trading [[Rolando Blackman]]—who by that point had surpassed Mark Aguirre as the team's all-time leading scorer—to the [[New York Knicks]] for a first-round draft pick. Blackman had made four All-Star Game appearances in his Mavericks career. [[Herb Williams]] joined the Knicks as a free agent. Fat Lever underwent more surgery and missed the entire 1992–93 season. Derek Harper was the team's only bright spot, leading the team with 18.3 points per game.

The Mavericks selected [[Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball|Ohio State]] guard [[Jim Jackson (basketball)|Jim Jackson]] with the fourth overall pick of the [[1992 NBA draft]], but he and owner Donald Carter could not come to terms on a contract for half of his rookie season. Jackson only played 28 games in [[1992–93 NBA season|1992–93]], a season also ruined by trades, a coaching change, and injuries. The Mavericks started 2–27 and fired Adubato on January 13, replacing him with [[Gar Heard]]. The Mavericks came dangerously close to setting the all-time worst record in NBA history (at the time, 9–73 by the [[1972–73 NBA season|1972–73]] [[1972–73 Philadelphia 76ers season|Philadelphia 76ers]]). But when Jackson was signed on March 3, the Mavs rallied, closing the season with a 7–14 mark, including two straight wins to end the season and finishing 11–71, the second-worst record in NBA history.
 		
Dallas selected [[Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball|Kentucky]] forward [[Jamal Mashburn]] with the fourth overall pick of the [[1993 NBA draft]] and hired [[Quinn Buckner]] as head coach. Buckner decided from the start to be a disciplinarian on the model of his college coach, [[Bobby Knight]], who told Buckner that the only way he would succeed with the Mavs would be to run the team with an iron hand.<ref name=Buckner>{{cite news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1994-05-04-9405040137-story.html |title=Mavericks show Buckner door |author1=Sam Smith |work=[[Chicago Tribune]] |date=May 4, 1994 |access-date=January 2, 2021 |archive-date=April 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422195445/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1994-05-04-9405040137-story.html |url-status=live}}</ref> The mostly young roster did not respond very well to Buckner's stern coaching style and started 1–23. By the end of January, they were 3–40, and it was once again possible that they could tie the 1973 Sixers for the all-time worst record in the league. But 5–9 records in February and April, coupled with Buckner loosening the reins a little bit, helped the Mavs finish 13–69. It was still the worst record in the league by far, but the Mavericks again avoided setting an all-time futility record. However, they did tie the NBA's ''single-season'' record for consecutive losses at [[List of National Basketball Association longest losing streaks|20 games]] (since broken).
 		
Buckner was fired at the end of the season despite having a five-year contract. However, Carter decided that Buckner had "burned too many bridges" due to his autocratic coaching style.<ref name=Buckner/> He compiled the worst record for a rookie NBA head coach, a record that only lasted four years until [[Bill Hanzlik]] broke it with the [[Denver Nuggets]]. The Mavericks brought back Dick Motta, who had led the franchise to some of its most successful seasons. The Mavericks also wound up with the number two pick in the [[1994 NBA draft]] and picked up [[California Golden Bears men's basketball|Cal]] point guard [[Jason Kidd]], giving them a solid tandem of Jackson, Mashburn, and Kidd, known as "The Three Js."

====1994–1996: Arrival of Jason Kidd====
The addition of Jason Kidd infused the Mavericks with new life in [[1994–95 NBA season|1994–95]]. Kidd averaged 11.7 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 7.7 assists in his rookie season and led the league in triple-doubles. [[Roy Tarpley]] was allowed to return to the league after three years and helped with 12.6 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. The tandem of Jim Jackson and Jamal Mashburn combined as the league's highest-scoring pair of teammates. On separate occasions, Mashburn and Jackson scored 50 points in a game that season. Mashburn contributed 24.1 points per game, fifth in the NBA; Jackson averaged 25.7 points but suffered a severe ankle sprain in February, which caused him to miss the regular season's remainder. Second-year forward [[Popeye Jones]] had a great year as well, as he averaged 10.6 rebounds and led the NBA in offensive rebounds.
 		
The Mavericks' improvement was dramatic. The team jumped to 36–46, 10th in the Western Conference, and only five games behind the [[1994–95 Denver Nuggets season|Denver Nuggets]] for the eighth and final playoff spot. It was the most significant one-year improvement in the team's history and the highest in the NBA. Many{{Who|date=December 2014}} expected the Mavericks' improvement to continue with the franchise's first foray into the NBA playoffs since 1990. But despite a 4–0 start, the [[1995–96 NBA season|1995–96 season]] was a disappointment about every conceivable way.{{According to whom|date=December 2014}} For the second time in his career, Roy Tarpley was given a lifelong ban from the NBA for repeated violations of the anti-drug policy—he never played in the NBA again. Jamal Mashburn had season-ending surgery to repair his sore right knee, only 18 games into the Mavericks' schedule.
 		
The team's two remaining stars, Jason Kidd and Jim Jackson bickered throughout the season, though neither of them had trouble establishing his stardom. Jackson led the team scoring with 19.6 ppg, made 121 three-pointers, and was the only Mav to start 82 games. Kidd became the first Maverick to be elected a starter in the NBA All-Star Game and finished second in the league in assists and fourth in steals while averaging 16.6 ppg. [[George McCloud]], who averaged 9.6 ppg in his previous year, blew away his career-high scoring average as the Mavs resorted to the outside shot time and again due to their lack of an inside scoring threat. McCloud averaged 18.9 ppg and made 257 three-pointers, equaling the second-highest individual season total in league history.

Overall, the Mavericks connected on 735 of their 2,039 three-point attempts, both new league records. The Mavs finished 26–56, fifth in the Midwest Division, and 33 games out of first place. Motta was relieved of his head coaching responsibilities at season's end and replaced by former Bulls assistant coach [[Jim Cleamons]]. And Don Carter, the only owner the Mavericks had ever had, sold the team to a group of investors led by [[H. Ross Perot, Jr.]]

====1996–1998: Arrival of Michael Finley====
[[File:Bradley, Shawn (2008) 2.jpg|left|thumb|upright|[[Shawn Bradley]] spent nine seasons with Dallas and ranks second all time in blocked shots.]] The [[1996–97 NBA season|1996–97 season]] was a year of transition for the Mavericks as they re-designed their entire team; 27 different players saw action for that Dallas team, setting an all-time NBA record. By the time the season was over only rookie forward, [[Samaki Walker]], had remained from the opening-day roster. The first big move came in December, as Jason Kidd, [[Loren Meyer]], and [[Tony Dumas]] were traded to the [[Phoenix Suns]] for guards [[Michael Finley]] and [[Sam Cassell]] and forward [[A.C. Green]]. Cassell would play just one season while Green played three, but Finley, who, after his first half-season in Dallas, went on to average over or near twenty points per game for at least the next seven years of his Mavericks career. He made two visits to the NBA All-Star Game and played in each of the Mavericks games until the 2004–05 season.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/f/finlemi01.html |title=Michael Finley Stats |access-date=May 9, 2022 |archive-date=October 14, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131014090640/http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/f/finlemi01.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
 		
[[Don Nelson]] was hired as Dallas' general manager on February 7. Within a week of his hiring, the Mavericks had released [[Fred Roberts]] and [[Oliver Miller]]. They then traded Jamal Mashburn to the [[Miami Heat]] for forwards [[Kurt Thomas (basketball)|Kurt Thomas]] and [[Martin Müürsepp]] and guard [[Predrag Danilović|Sasha Danilović]]. Thomas did not play in 1996–97 and only ended up playing in five games as a Maverick before signing as a free agent with the [[New York Knicks]]. Danilović played in 13 games for the Mavericks before opting out of his contract and signing with [[Virtus Bologna|Bucker Bologna]]. Müürsepp played in 73 games for the Mavericks over the next two years before leaving the NBA.
 		
[[Chris Gatling]] was the Mavericks' sole representative in the NBA All-Star Game, but he did not last much longer in Dallas. In one of the most massive two-team trades in NBA history, the Mavericks traded Gatling, Jim Jackson, Sam Cassell, George McCloud, and [[Eric Montross]] to the [[New Jersey Nets]] for 7&nbsp;ft 6 in center [[Shawn Bradley]], forward [[Ed O'Bannon]], and guards [[Khalid Reeves]] and [[Robert Pack (basketball)|Robert Pack]]. Nelson claimed the trades were necessary because the situation in the locker room was unacceptable. However, whereas Cassell became a consistent floor leader, and Jackson, Gatling and, McCloud all continued to be substantial contributors to their teams for several more years, only Bradley lasted any time in Dallas. He would spend part of the next eight years putting up modest contributions for Dallas and giving them substantial numbers in blocked shots.

Undrafted rookie guard [[Erick Strickland]] averaged 10.6 ppg. Along with Finley and Bradley, he was expected to be the core of this new Mavericks team. The constant changes made it impossible to establish any team chemistry in 1996–97, and the Mavericks finished 24–58. But they had acquired some of the pieces that would help them start to turn things around in years to come. In 1997–98, despite a poor record of 20–62, Dallas had a knack for giving some of the NBA's elite teams a hard time to beat the [[Seattle SuperSonics]], [[New York Knicks]], [[Indiana Pacers]], and [[Chicago Bulls]]. Against the Bulls, Dallas went on a 17–2 run to force overtime, where they won 104–97. Midway through that season, Nelson fired Cleamons and named himself head coach.