Mark Aguirre’s Journey Comes Full Circle as Dallas Mavericks Retire His Jersey

DALLAS — The jersey now hangs where Mark Aguirre once wondered if his name would ever be spoken kindly again. On a night thick with memory and reconciliation, the Dallas Mavericks retired Aguirre’s No. 24 at American Airlines Center, sealing a chapter that began far from Dallas — three blocks apart on Chicago’s West Side, where Aguirre and Isiah Thomas learned early that basketball could be a refuge as much as a dream.

Thomas, who flew in to stand beside his lifelong friend, framed the night as something far larger than banners or points.

“To see him honored like this and to see the Mavericks organization and the city of Dallas embrace him like this, it really is a dream come true,” Thomas said. “It’s bigger than any basketball moment that he’s had on the floor. To see him in this arena, in this environment, be loved and cherished — especially coming from where we came from — it’s great to see.”

That shared origin shaped everything that followed. Long before either became the top two picks in the 1981 NBA Draft, survival was the daily objective.

“You were hungry every day and you really were just surviving,” Thomas recalled of their childhood. “You really couldn’t think about tomorrow or next week. It was hour to hour, figuring out life and school. Basketball took the mental strain off your brain.”

Those hours eventually produced parallel paths — Aguirre to Dallas as the No. 1 pick, Thomas to the Detroit Pistons at No. 2 — and later, championships together in Detroit. Yet Aguirre’s relationship with Dallas remained unresolved after his trade in February 1989.

That history lingered even as the ceremony unfolded, with Derek Harper, Rolando Blackman and Isiah Thomas joining Aguirre on stage. Blackman briefly tried to lighten the emotion.

“Just ask him to throw him the ball,” Blackman joked. “And he’ll stop crying.”

The tears stayed. Harper said they reflected years of misunderstanding more than resentment.

“I think the first word I’d use is misunderstood,” Harper said. “For whatever reason, Mark got a bad rap that wasn’t fair. To label Mark a bad guy, I would respectfully disagree with that. Let bygones be bygones.”

That sentiment ultimately guided the franchise’s decision. Mavericks CEO Rick Welts said the absence had long felt obvious.

“When you looked up in the rafters, there was one natural number missing,” Welts said. “We talked with everyone connected to the team and its history, and it was unanimous. This was something that should have been done. It might be overdue, but it’s happening now.”

Aguirre’s on-court résumé left little doubt. A three-time All-Star with Dallas, he averaged at least 22.6 points per game in six full seasons and anchored Dick Motta’s offense through the low post. Blackman said his versatility made the system work.

“He could score on the block, score from the outside, pass the basketball,” Blackman said. “He was an unstoppable force for us.”

Sam Perkins, another former teammate, remembered how Aguirre imposed himself nightly.

“Mark was fearless,” Perkins said. “He knew where he could get his shots. The team supported him, and I believe coach Motta respected him and challenged him.”

For Aguirre, the ceremony closed a personal loop that had little to do with statistics. Dallas, he said, is where he became a man.

“To come to Dallas, to come with Don Carter, that was the beginning of making me who I am,” Aguirre said. “My mother made me take God with me when I came here. Dallas was perfect for me.”

Even before the jersey rose, Aguirre said his former teammates helped ease the long wait.

“Rolando would always say it didn’t feel right without me up there,” he said. “Derek said the same thing. That made me feel better about everything.”

Now, with No. 24 permanently suspended above the floor, the weight has lifted.

And for Thomas, the moment carried meaning far beyond basketball — a reminder of how far two kids from the same streets traveled together, and how one of them finally came home.