Mavericks Draft History: Making Draft-Night Deals in Recent Years

Dallas Mavericks Draft History

With the 2014 NBA Draft in their sights on Thursday, June 26, the Dallas Mavericks have had a very interesting draft history behind them.

In their 34-year history, the Mavericks have selected a total of 135 players (Draft had 10 rounds in early years of franchise).

1980-89: 86 players

1990-99: 25 players

2000-2009: 17 players

2010-present: 7 players

Of course, with the Mavericks born in 1980, a lot of players had to suit up for Dallas, but in recent years the Mavericks just can’t find a way to draft that next franchise player.

That being said, it doesn’t mean the draft is wasted if your draft picks don’t play a single game for you.

Perfect example is Dirk Nowitzki, who is involved in one of the more famous draft-day trades when he was traded for Robert “Tractor” Traylor during the 1998 draft.

But since then, not many picks have stayed with Dallas, let alone play a single minute for the Mavericks.

Since the 2007 draft, the Mavericks have selected 12 players who have gone on to never play for Dallas.

The last selection that suited up for Dallas came with the 34th pick in the 2007 draft when the Mavs selected Nick Fazekas out of the University of Nevada. Fazekas, however, would go on to only play four games.

Some notable selections in franchise history

Kiki Vandeweghe: 1980, 1st rd, 11th pick (1st pick in franchise history)

Mark Aguirre: 1981, 1st rd, 1st overall pick (Only No. 1 overall pick in franchise history)

Rolando Blackman: 1981, 1st rd, 9th pick (Mavericks jersey No. 22 retired)

Derek Harper: 1983, 1st rd, 11th pick (Mavericks broadcaster for FSSW)

Sam Perkins: 1984, 1st rd, 4th pick (Six seasons with Dallas)

Detlef Schrempf: 1985, 1st rd, 8th pick (Germany)

Bill Wennington: 1985, 1st rd, 16th pick (3x NBA Champion with Chicago)

Mark Price: 1986, 2nd rd, 25th pick (Cavaliers jersey No. 25 retired)

Jay Bilas: 1986, 5th, 108th pick (ESPN college basketball analyst)

Steve Alford:  1987, 2nd rd, 20th pick (UCLA head coach)

Jamal Mashburn: 1993, 1st rd, 4th pick (All-American at Kentucky, former ESPN analyst)

Jason Kidd: 1994, 1st rd, 2nd pick (Rookie of the Year, Mavericks 2011 Champion, 2nd in NBA career assists/steals, Nets head coach)

Josh Howard: 2003, 1st rd, 29th pick (Seven seasons with Dallas)

Since selecting Howard in 2003, the Mavericks have only selected two players that played with the team (Maurice Ager– 44 games, Fazekas).

In recent years, Dallas has drafted the likes of Tyler Zeller (Cleveland) and Kelly Olynyk, the latter immediately traded to Boston.

With a tight nucleus in Mashburn, Jim Jackson and Jason Kidd, all three would be traded at the end of the 1997 season. It was a time to rebuild.

The Mavericks had the sixth-overall pick. Don Nelson was interested in Nowitzki, but so was Rick Pitino of the Celtics.

Boston had to wait at 10th if Nowitzki was still available.

Nelson was in talks with a couple of teams, the Bucks and Suns and drafted Traylor with the sixth pick.

Three picks later and the Big German would be selected by the Bucks, but later traded to Dallas, along with Pat Garrity, for Tractor.

It was Boston’s turn to pick and went with Paul Pierce. Needless to say, that too worked out long-term.

By the end of the night, Nelson sent Garrity in a package deal to Phoenix for the rights to Steve Nash, another fantastic deal.

Making the most of their intentional roots, the Mavericks have selected 15 players from foreign countries, the first coming in Germany’s Schrempf in 1985.

Since 1998, Dallas has drafted 11 foreign players.

Germany- 2

Canada- 2

Croatia- 2

China- 2

Dominican Republic- 1

Montenegro- 1

Lithuania- 1

Serbia- 1

Greece- 1

Nigeria- 1

Republic of Congo- 1 (Tanguy Ngombo)

Qatar- 1 (Tanguy Ngombo)

With this year’s draft on the horizon, the Mavericks have the 34th and 51st pick. They could trade up to get Wichita State’s Cleanthony Early, or make a trade for someone like Iman Shumpert and Tyson Chandler. Whatever they do, the Mavs always find a way to trade away their picks and still end up in good shape during the season.