The Dallas Mavericks have a rich history as a franchise. Although they have only won one championship in their franchise history, a few times they came very close to their dream. However, their dreams were dashed by an unfortunate injury to their star player. Recently, the Mavs owner Mark Cuban talked about their misfortune in 2003.

The Mavs were a prime contender for the championship in that season. However, it all changed when Dirk Nowitzki sustained an injury on his knee and soon the Mavs’ dreams came crashing down.

Mark Cuban talks about the 2003 NBA season

Over the years, Cuban has built a reputation around his name for being a dynamic leader. While he carries a star status to his name, the 65-year-old seems to always be in awe of his players. Recently he was on All The Smoke Podcast where he talked about the Mavs’ heartbreaking season, his experience during the 2003 run, and how it felt to have lost a potential championship chance against the San Antonio Spurs, by losing Dirk Nowitzki.

Stephen Jackson, a co-host on the podcast was on the Spurs team in 2003 where he won his only NBA title. The Mavs were pretty dominant throughout the series. Led by the legendary Dirk Nowitzki, they were looking ahead to comfortably closing the Western Conference. However, in game 3, the Mavs lost their star player because of a serious knee injury.

This resulted in the Spurs, led by Tim Duncan, who was also the MVP that year, closing the series in six games. The Spurs then went on to win their second title, defeating the Jets in six games as well.

The billionaire said that he felt like everything was under control till Nowitzki sustained an injury. He said, “If we had Dirk…it would have been different.”

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The aftermath of Dirk Dowitzki’s injury

The Nowitzki knee injury eclipsed the Mavs’ chances of an NBA title in 2003. They had to wait about seven more years before they got their hands on the franchise’s first and only NBA championship. However, a crushing defeat in the Conference Finals was not all that came out because of Nowitzki’s injury.

His injury also resulted in brewing a feud among the management of the team. As per several reports, after the team’s star player got injured, Mavs owner Mark Cuban and head coach Don Nelson were not on good terms. Cuban had issues regarding Nelson’s playing time management for their best player.

What do you think would have happened, had Nowitzki not been injured? How could history have been different? Let us know in the comments below!

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