Dallas Mavericks Have Accomplished an Embarrassing Rare Feat in NBA History

The Dallas Mavericks have not had the season they imagined when they lucked out and were able to draft Cooper Flagg first overall in the 2025 NBA Draft. After Monday's overtime loss to the Golden State Warriors, the Mavericks have a 23-49 record and are officially eliminated from postseason contention.

Since trading away Luka Doncic, the Mavericks are now 37-70, which includes the two Play-In Tournament games last year. So much for a move made to win now.

With them being eliminated from the postseason, the Mavericks have just recorded the second instance ever of a four-year stretch where a team misses the playoffs, makes the NBA Finals the next year, then misses the playoffs the two seasons after.

Dallas missed the playoffs in 2023, infamously resting Doncic and Kyrie Irving for the final games of the season to tank and secure their first-round pick, which they used on Dereck Lively II after a trade back. They then went on a heater down the stretch of the 2023-24 season, running through the LA Clippers, OKC Thunder, and Minnesota Timberwolves before losing in the NBA Finals to the Boston Celtics. They missed the playoffs last year after Kyrie Irving tore his ACL, and Anthony Davis couldn't stay healthy after the trade, and those same themes bled into this season, where they have missed the playoffs once again.

The only other instance this happened was with the then San Francisco Warriors, who missed the playoffs in 1963, made the Finals on the back of Wilt Chamberlain in 1964, then cratered in 1965 to a 17-65 record, trading Chamberlain midseason (sound familiar?), then missed the playoffs by a game the next year in 1966. But there were only 9 teams in the league these years, so it was entirely different circumstances.

The Phoenix Suns got close to doing it in the mid 1970s, and kind of did the opposite, missing the playoffs for 5 straight seasons, from 1971-1975, made the NBA Finals in 1976, then missed the playoffs again in 1977. However, they made the playoffs for the next 8 seasons after that brief hiatus.

Mar 21, 2026; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg (32) looks on during the game between the Mavericks and the Clippers at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

An Unacceptable Standard for the Mavericks

The Dallas Mavericks used to be one of the golden standards of the NBA with Dirk Nowitzki, making the playoffs 15 of 16 years, including 11 straight 50-win seasons. they missed it for three years, then had Luka Doncic, who led them to the playoffs 4 out of 5 seasons, with a trip to the Western Conference Finals in 2022 and the NBA Finals in 2024.

Hopefully, Cooper Flagg and whoever they add with their 2026 draft pick will be able to pick the otrch back up, but this consistent losing is too reminiscent of the Mavericks of the 1990s, and no one wants that.

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