2000–01 Dallas Mavericks season
The 2000–01 NBA season was the Mavericks' 21st season in the National Basketball Association. During the off-season, the Mavericks acquired Christian Laettner and Loy Vaught from the Detroit Pistons in two separate trades, acquired Howard Eisley from the Utah Jazz, and acquired top draft pick Courtney Alexander from the Orlando Magic. In their final season at the Reunion Arena, the Mavericks won ten of their first fifteen games, and played above .500 for the entire season, holding a 31–19 record before the All-Star break. At midseason, the team traded Laettner, Vaught and Alexander along  with Hubert Davis, and top draft pick Etan Thomas (who missed the entire season with a toe injury and never played for the Mavericks) to the Washington Wizards for Juwan Howard and second-year center Calvin Booth, as the team signed free agent Vernon Maxwell, who was previously released by the Philadelphia 76ers. The Mavericks finished third in the Midwest Division with a 53–29 record, and made their first playoff appearance since the 1989–90 season, ending a ten-year playoff drought. Dirk Nowitzki averaged 21.8 points and 9.2 rebounds per game, and was named to the All-NBA Third Team , while Michael Finley 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, which was his second and final All-Star selection, and Steve Nash showed improvement averaging 15.6 points and 7.3 assists per game. In addition, 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. In the Western Conference First Round, the Mavericks defeated  the 4th-seeded Utah Jazz in five games after trailing 2–0, winning their first playoff series since 1988. However, they would lose in the Western Conference Semi-finals to the San Antonio Spurs in five games. Following the season, Eisley was traded to the New York Knicks, while Gary Trent signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Booth signed with the Seattle SuperSonics and Maxwell retired.