The Dallas Mavericks fully leaned into a new era for the organization this season after hearing the calls from MFFLs everywhere — first, by firing general manager Nico Harrison; and next, severing ties to the major connection to the Luka Doncic trade by moving Anthony Davis. The trade deadline reset the books for the future to build around Cooper Flagg. Yes, there are still pieces of the past on the team (for now) — six players from the 2024 NBA Finals team are still in Dallas. But there is no doubt
the direction this team is heading and who is at its core.
In the coming months the team will hire a new general manager, someone who according to recent reporting from The Athletic’s Christian Clark will be valued for their previous experience and unlikely to be an “out-of-the-box” hire. That’s good, great in fact. The team previously took the creative approach and it netted them sending away one of the league’s best players overnight in exchange for 29 games of backbreaking fun. A stabilizing force in the front office is smart.
And while they can’t afford creativity there, they can absolutely afford creativity in rebranding the franchise.
We’ve been loud about this in the past. I did a deep dive on this nearly seven years ago to the day. It is baffling this team essentially has the same visual identity they had 25 years ago. And for those who haven’t been paying attention at home you won’t be surprised to learn that their artwork looks 25 years old.
They introduced a new-millenia inspired design in 2001 and haven’t looked back, or forward for that matter. Since then they’ve basically hit shuffle on a three-song playlist, surprised when the same song keeps playing and we’re tired of the hits.
The team has been forgiven of their sins by reintroducing green alternate jerseys recently. It feels so obvious that those retro designs are a hit and should be folded into the core design. But even if it isn’t, we can’t keep looking at this a quarter century later.
Especially when they’ve passed up several obvious opportunities recently to revamp their look, aligning with logical shifts in mini-eras:
- 2019: The team traded their way to Doncic, and after spending a full season next to Dirk Nowitzki, Doncic ushered in a new era. This was the spring I last made this plea. It made too much sense, and yet the Mavericks (and Mark Cuban) did nothing.
- Summer of 2024: The Mavericks had just been sold to the Adelson’s at the start of the year, were fresh off a finals run, and at the time it felt like the start of something new in Dallas. They did nothing.
- Summer of 2025: We’ve already walked through what led to this moment. If the Mavericks were smart they would have rebranded after drafting Cooper Flagg. But they (Nico) believed they were actually contenders and not, in fact, starting a new era. They were starting a new era.
So why not now? The team is officially Flagg’s. This summer they will draft in the top eight and conceivably add Cooper’s future longterm running mate. Trying to pin it to the timeline of a new arena doesn’t make sense — we’re at least five years from that time. It would be one thing if this look felt cool in a retro way, felt timeless in a classic way. But the basketball branding look of AOL instant messenger isn’t timeless.
The time to do it is now. Give new life to the look of the Mavericks brand identity, as they build what this franchise looks like in a fully new era. One that isn’t connected to former times, one that doesn’t overlap with franchise cornerstones. Make this team fully Flagg’s.
