The

2000–01 NBA season The 2000–01 NBA season was the 55th season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Los Angeles Lakers winning their second straight championship, beating the Philadelphia 76ers 4 games to 1 in the 2001 NBA Finals. No ...

was the 21st season for the

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Divisi ...

in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

. The Mavericks received the twelfth overall pick in the

2000 NBA draft The 2000 NBA draft was held on June 28, 2000, at the Target Center in Minneapolis. It was the last draft held at the home arena of an NBA team until 2011; the following and subsequent drafts (through 2010) all took place at The Theater at Madis ...

, and selected power forward Etan Thomas out of

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

; the team also acquired shooting guard, and first-round draft pick Courtney Alexander out of Fresno State University from the

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NB ...

, power forward, and first-round draft pick Donnell Harvey out of the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

from the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the Na ...

, and power forward, and second-round draft pick

Eduardo Nájera Eduardo Alonso Nájera Pérez () (born July 11, 1976) is a Mexican former professional basketball player who is currently a scout for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is also a pregame and postgame analyst o ...

out of the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

from the

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA) ...

. During the off-season, the team acquired

Christian Laettner Christian Donald Laettner (, ; born August 17, 1969) is an American former professional basketball player. His college career for the Duke Blue Devils men's basketball, Duke Blue Devils is widely regarded as one of the best in National Collegi ...

and

Loy Vaught Loy Stephen Vaught (born February 27, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player who spent ten seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), primarily with the Los Angeles Clippers. Vaught played at East Kentwood High S ...

from the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

in two separate trades, and acquired Howard Eisley from the

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. Since the 1991–92 season, the ...

in a four-team trade. In their final season at the

Reunion Arena Reunion Arena was an indoor arena located in the Reunion, Dallas, Reunion district of downtown Dallas, Texas, United States. The arena served as the primary home of the National Hockey League's (NHL) Dallas Stars and the National Basketball Ass ...

, the Mavericks showed improvement by winning ten of their first fifteen games of the regular season, and played above .500 basketball for the entire season, holding a 31–19 record at the All-Star break. However, Thomas was out for the entire season due to a toe injury, and never played for the Mavericks; at mid-season, he was traded along with Laettner, Vaught, Alexander and

Hubert Davis Hubert Ira Davis Jr. (born May 17, 1970) is an American college basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball, North Carolina Tar Heels men's team. Before his coaching care ...

to the

Washington Wizards The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The team plays i ...

in exchange for

Juwan Howard Juwan Antonio Howard ( ; born February7, 1973) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He previously served as the head coach ...

, second-year center Calvin Booth, and second-year forward Obinna Ekezie. The team also signed free agent Vernon Maxwell, who was previously released by the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, also known colloquially as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlan ...

. The Mavericks finished in third place in the Midwest Division with a 53–29 record, earned the #5 seed in the Western Conference, and qualified for the

NBA playoffs The NBA playoffs is the annual Playoffs, postseason Tournament#Knockout tournaments, tournament of the National Basketball Association (NBA) held to determine the league champion. Since 1949, the four-round, best-of-seven tournament is held afte ...

for the first time since the 1989–90 season, ending a ten-year playoff drought.

Dirk Nowitzki Dirk Werner Nowitzki (; born June 19, 1978) is a German former professional basketball player who is a special advisor for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Listed at , he is widely regarded as one of the great ...

averaged 21.8 points and 9.2 rebounds per game, led the team with 151 three-point field goals, and was named to the

All-NBA Third Team The All-NBA Team is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) honor bestowed on the best players in the league following every NBA season. The voting is conducted by a global panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. The team has been sel ...

, while

Michael Finley Michael Howard Finley (born March 6, 1973) is an American former professional basketball player who is the assistant general manager and vice president of player personnel for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He ...

averaged 21.5 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.4 steals per game, and was selected for the 2001 NBA All-Star Game in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, which was his second and final All-Star selection. In addition,

Steve Nash Stephen John Nash (born 7 February 1974) is a Canadian professional basketball coach and former player who most recently served as head coach of the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played 18 seasons in the NBA, ...

showed improvement averaging 15.6 points and 7.3 assists per game, while Eisley contributed 9.0 points and 3.6 assists per game, and Shawn Bradley provided the team with 7.1 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game. Nash finished in third place in Most Improved Player voting, while Nowitzki finished tied in fifth place, and head coach

Don Nelson Donald Arvid Nelson (born May 15, 1940) is an American former professional basketball player and head coach. Nelson is second all-time in regular season wins of any coach in NBA history, with 1,335 (he held the record for most wins for almost 12 ...

finished in third place in

Coach of the Year Many sports leagues, sportswriting associations, and other organizations confer "Coach of the Year" awards. In some sports — including baseball and association football — the award is called the "Manager of the Year" award. Some of the ...

voting. In the Western Conference First Round of the

2001 NBA playoffs The 2001 NBA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 2000-01 season. The tournament concluded with the Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers defeating the Eastern Conference champion Philadel ...

, the Mavericks trailed 2–0 to the 4th-seeded

, but managed to win the next three games, thus winning the series 3–2, and winning their first playoff series since the 1987–88 season. However, they would lose in the Western Conference Semi-finals to the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

in five games. Following the season, Eisley was traded to the

in a three-team trade, while

Gary Trent Gary Dajaun Trent Sr. (born September 22, 1974) is an American former professional basketball player. He is the father of current basketball player Gary Trent Jr. Early life Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, Trent played his high school ba ...

signed with the

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves (often referred to as the Wolves or T-wolves) are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Divisio ...

, Booth signed with the

Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly shortened to Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Division (1967–1970), and ...

, Ekezie was released to free agency, and Maxwell retired.

Draft picks

Roster

Roster Notes

* Center Shawn Bradley holds both American and German citizenship.

Regular season

Standings

:z = clinched division title :y = clinched division title :x = clinched playoff spot

Record vs. opponents

Game log

Playoffs

, - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" , 1 , April 21 , @

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

L 86–88
,

(26) ,

(12) ,

(7) , Delta Center
19,100 , 0–1 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" , 2 , April 24 , @

L 98–109
,

(32) , Bradley, Finley (8) ,

(6) , Delta Center
19,911 , 0–2 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" , 3 , April 28 ,

W 94–91
,

(33) ,

(11) ,

(7) ,

18,187 , 1–2 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" , 4 , May 1 ,

W 107–77
,

(33) ,

(12) ,

(7) ,

18,300 , 2–2 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" , 5 , May 3 , @

W 84–83
,

(33) ,

(8) ,

(7) , Delta Center
19,911 , 3–2 , - , - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" , 1 , May 5 , @

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

L 78–94
,

(17) , Shawn Bradley (12) ,

(6) ,

Alamodome The Alamodome is a 64,000-seat domed indoor multi-purpose stadium in San Antonio, Texas. It is located on the southeastern fringe of downtown San Antonio. The facility opened on May 15, 1993, having been constructed at a cost of $186 milli ...

32,798 , 0–1 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" , 2 , May 7 , @

L 86–100
,

(24) ,

(11) ,

(7) ,

27,690 , 0–2 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" , 3 , May 9 ,

L 90–104
,

(15) , Greg Buckner (12) ,

(5) ,

18,237 , 0–3 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" , 4 , May 12 ,

W 112–108
,

(30) ,

(9) ,

(14) ,

18,187 , 1–3 , - align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" , 5 , May 14 , @

L 87–105
,

(42) ,

(18) ,

Eisley Eisley is an American rock band from Tyler, Texas, originally consisting of siblings Sherri DuPree, Chauntelle DuPree, Stacy DuPree and Weston DuPree. Remaining recording/touring members are their sister Sherri DuPree, Sherri DuPree-Bemis and th ...

, Finley (4) ,

25,853 , 1–4 , -

Player statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Awards and records

NBA All-Star Game The National Basketball Association All-Star Game is the annual all-star game hosted each February by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and showcases 24 of the league's All-star, star players. Since 2022, it was held on the third Sunday of ...

Transactions

Trades

Player Transactions Reference:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2000-01 Dallas Mavericks Season Dallas Mavericks seasons

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...