It has been a long 19 months since Luka Doncic was traded. It has been an even longer 29 months since Mavericks fans were riding the high of making the NBA Finals and looking forward to the next 10 years of competition. At the time of the trade, it was hard to see how Dallas would ever recover from it.
I, personally, could not see a world in which I would feel joy watching the Mavericks for the foreseeable future. Then, Dallas lucked into Cooper Flagg. His rookie year was enjoyable, but so many remnants
of the previous year remained. They had to fire the man who made the trade. Then, they had to trade the guy they received in the Doncic deal. Eventually, they made the decision to move on from the coach who oversaw all of these things when a new regime was put in place. And then Dusty May was hired, and he gave the city of Dallas something that was long overdue: a hope for joy again.
If you live in Dallas, you know how the city felt in the spring of 2025: sad, lifeless, and hurting. Yes, it’s true that the DFW metroplex is a football town, but the Cowboys play in Arlington (and are perpetually disappointing), which is 30-45 minutes away. So does the baseball team, the Rangers, which means Dallas proper feels most alive when the Mavericks are good.
For over a year and a half, things felt off. Conversations that used to be had about the Mavericks were silent, buzz downtown on game days was non-existent, and the anticipation of playoff basketball was years down the road. There was still a long way to go to get back to where it felt the fan base was two years ago. Even with Flagg as the future, there was still some skepticism regarding how the team would rebound. But when basketball started less than two weeks ago, those worries started to melt away.
The Mavs are finally making us feel basketball feelings again. When I went to the Mavericks’ game on Friday night versus the Rockets, the arena felt like it did once upon a time. The city and people around me felt alive again, and Mavericks’ forward Naji Marshall seemed to notice the same thing:
But what changed? This team is, in large part, the same as last season. Well, like I said before, the final step to moving on was getting a new coach. May has been a breath of fresh air. He is always smiling; he emits joy whenever he talks. He is personable in a way that Jason Kidd simply was not. He is constantly talking up his guys and praising them when they play well. He is, for all intents and purposes, the antithesis of everything that happened before he was hired.
The team even plays like an extension of him. They root for each other, they gang rebound, they have fun playing passing the ball, and, most of all, they play for the city of Dallas. May even said it himself when talking about the synergy between the coaches and front office:
“We’re all working together.”, May said. “We’re trying to represent this city the best way possible. And we’re all trying to achieve the same thing – to improve on and off the court because ultimately the way we play on the floor brings enjoyment to people’s lives.”
And that last point, about bringing enjoyment to people’s lives, is the key element that previous decision-makers in the organization failed to realize. Dallas is full of hardworking people. Thousands of Mavericks fans clock in at 9:00 AM with the hope that after a beer or two and a Mavericks tipoff at 7:00 PM, the stresses of daily life will become a little easier. Sometimes that two-and-a-half-hour basketball game is all you need to decompress after a long day.
That’s why Dallas rooted so hard for Doncic. He played with a joy that you could see reflected in the city. He was a release valve for the everyday fan. When he was dealt away, that joy he created faded quickly. But May understands that. He knows what Dallas has been through. And not only does he want his team to win, but he wants to bring the whole city with them. And he makes that clear with everything he does.
Sometimes it is hard to see the effect that a coach has on a team. But with May, that effect not only is evident in the basketball product, but it reverberates throughout the entire Dallas area. Flagg gave Mavericks fans hope again; May brought back our joy.
