A draft-night blunder unlocked a franchise legend. Discover the ill-fated trade that delivered the Mavericks their undisputed greatest player ever.
The Dallas Mavericks made a trade a year ago that many believe to be one of the worst ever, if not the worst.
But that does not mean that the team has not been the beneficiary of some of the worst deals in NBA history.
Particularly one that occurred during the 1998 NBA Draft.
In a recent Bleacher Report's Andy Bailey, he ranks what he believes are the 50 worst trades of all time. And at No. 4 on his list, he has the Milwaukee Bucks making a deal with the Mavs on draft night that gave Dallas the best player in their history, Dirk Nowitzki.
"It may not be fair to beat up the Milwaukee Bucks over this one," Bailey writes. "Dirk Nowitzki was the ninth pick in the 1998 draft, which means several other teams passed on him. Dirk had yet to smash the general perception of European players, so teams weren't exactly lining up to get him. But Don Nelson saw something in Dirk that others didn't, traded down to land him and brought one of the best players of all time to the Dallas Mavericks."
When the Bucks selected Dirk with the ninth overall pick in the 1998 draft, they then made the decision to trade him to the Mavericks in exchange for Robert Traylor, who at the time was coming off of 16 points per game at Michigan.
Traylor played seven seasons in the NBA and averaged just under five points per game for his career. Needless to say, that has absolutely nothing on the legendary career that No. 41 was able to have with Dallas.
Nowitzki was a 14-time All-Star, was named All-NBA 12 times, won MVP for the 2006-07 season, and won a championship and a Finals MVP in 2011. All of this led him to be named a first-ballot selection to the NBA Hall of Fame.
Oh, and he's also seven hon the all-time scoring list.
To be fair, hindsight is in fact 20/20, but it's hard to ignore just how and pf a trade this turned out to be for the Bucks. But the Mavs are not going to complain one bit, as it gave them the greatest player in their franchise's history.