30 Greatest Dallas Mavericks players in franchise history

24. Jim Jackson

The Mavs drafted Jackson fourth overall in 1992 after a 22-win season, and things were about to get significantly worse. Dallas was the worst team in the NBA for Jackson’s first two seasons as they won just 24 games combined. Jackson missed most of his rookie season because of a contract dispute with the team. He played just 28 games and started all of them.

Jackson kept getting better. He averaged over 19 points, four rebounds, and four assists in year two, and the Mavericks formed the “Three Js” in his third season after drafting Jason Kidd in 1994. Jackson scored a career-high 25.7 points per game in 1994-95 with the future Hall of Fame point guard setting him up.

Drama ruled the 6’6 wing’s time with the Mavs, but it did not stop him from producing. Jackson averaged 19.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 0.9 steals in 36.3 minutes per game over his four-and-a-half seasons in Dallas. He was unable to replicate that scoring after being traded to the Nets in 1997 in a deal that brought Shawn Bradley and Robert Pack ot the Mavericks.

Jim Jackson is seventh in team history in points per game, and he averaged the second-most minutes per game. He has played the 24th most games for Dallas, but the losses and the drama make him a forgotten Maverick.