2024–25 Dallas Mavericks season

The 2024–25 Dallas Mavericks season was the 45th season for the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Mavericks would look to return to the NBA Finals following their 4–1 defeat to the championship winning Boston Celtics. On July 6, 2024, the Mavericks would complete a six-team sign-and-trade that saw them acquire four-time champion shooting guard Klay Thompson from the Golden State Warriors, breaking apart the Splash Brothers duo there in the process after 13 seasons. Before this season began, the Mavericks would also leave Bally Sports Southwest (later rebranded to FanDuel Sports Network Southwest as of October 21, 2024) in order to air games with TEGNA Inc. owned stations within the state of Texas.

In the 2024 NBA Cup, the Mavericks finished with a group stage record of 3–1 and advanced to the knockout stage as the West wildcard by winning a point-differential tiebreaker over the Phoenix Suns, after a head-to-head tiebreaker loss to the Golden State Warriors relegated them to second place in West Group C. However, they were eliminated by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the quarterfinals.

On February 2, 2025, without warning, the Mavericks sent franchise superstar and perennial MVP candidate Luka Dončić, alongside Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris, to the Los Angeles Lakers in a controversial blockbuster trade, in return for Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and a first-round pick. General manager Nico Harrison stated that the trade was meant to improve the team's defense, though it was leaked that the real reasons for the trade were Harrison's disapproval of Dončić's weight, and ownership's reluctance to pay Dončić the raise he would be owed soon, with Dončić being eligible for the super-max contract at the time and it being reported that he was reaching 270 pounds (120 kg) before the trade occurred. Regardless of the reasoning, Mavericks fans immediately decried the inexplicable trade of their beloved franchise player for an inferior and injury-prone Davis, and demanded the team fire Harrison as general manager. The move was considered by many outlets to be the most shocking and possibly worst of all time in sports history.

Davis suffered an adductor injury in his debut for the Mavericks on February 8, causing him to miss extended time and further fueling the rage of fans, who felt Harrison should have known Davis could not stay healthy and had essentially given away Dončić for nothing. Davis was out injured multiple times afterward, only playing a total of nine games for the Mavericks that season. Kyrie Irving also suffered a season-ending torn ACL on March 3, while several other Mavericks players were sidelined with injuries. By March 15, only eight players were considered healthy enough to play, which was the bare minimum number of players an NBA team is required to have active for games. Just two days after the Dončić trade, the Mavs sent Quentin Grimes to the Philadelphia 76ers for Caleb Martin. These events led to a large amount of backlash from the fanbase, largely toward Nico Harrison and Patrick Dumont. The hate was so intense that fans began chanting hateful comments towards the staff and the team had to hire extra security to escort fans out of the home arena, with Harrison's personal information also being leaked online. Many NBA fans called the 2024–25 Mavericks season one of the saddest seasons across professional sports history, and some believed the team was cursed.

On April 9, the Mavericks became the last Western Conference team to clinch a play-in spot following the Oklahoma City Thunder defeating the Phoenix Suns. They would win their first game on April 16 before falling to the Memphis Grizzlies in the second play-in game on April 18, ending their season and missing the playoffs for the first time since the 2022–23 season. They were also the first team since the 2019–20 Golden State Warriors to miss the playoffs after reaching the Finals the previous season.

Despite only having a 1.8% chance to receive the first overall pick in the 2025 NBA draft, they won the NBA draft lottery, becoming the second straight team to qualify for postseason play (by playing in the NBA play-in tournament) and win the draft lottery, after the 2023–24 Atlanta Hawks. Part of their break came from winning a coin flip over the Chicago Bulls that resulted in them staying at what would have initially been the eleventh pick in the draft before they won the lottery. The #1 pick allowed them to draft Cooper Flagg, who was ranked as a top prospect.