The Dallas Mavericks plan to retire the jersey of two-time NBA champion and three-time All-Star Mark Aguirre on January 29, 2026. For many Mavericks fans, it’s a long overdue honor for the first established star of Dallas’ franchise after he was selected No. 1 overall in the 1981 NBA Draft.
Aguirre spent eight seasons with the Mavericks and led the team to five playoff appearances, including a Western Conference Final run in 1988 that saw them take the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers to a seven-game series. However, Aguirre’s time with the Mavericks was a tumultuous one. He often clashed with the coaching staff and teammates, which ultimately led to him being traded during the 1988-89 season.
Aguirre didn’t outright request a trade from the Mavericks, but it was certainly a contentious situation in which a trade seemed to be the only solution for everyone involved. Aguirre was traded to the Detroit Pistons, where he went on to win two championships, but it was that trade that has kept his No. 24 jersey out of the Mavericks rafters — until now.
Former Mavericks owner Mark Cuban always had a strict policy when it came to retiring a player’s number. Specifically of Aguirre, Cuban said during a radio appearance in 2022, “The way I’ve kind of looked at it, and it’s no disrespect to Mark, is guys who wanted to leave are going to have a harder time than guys who made the effort to stay.”
Cuban’s no longer in charge though, and new owner Patrick Dumont wasted no time in throwing Cuban’s personal policy out the window. Still, though, it’s not every day that a player gets his jersey retired by a franchise that traded them. In most instances of a player leaving a franchise and then being honored, it’s due to that player leaving in free agency. When you trade a player, you signal that you don’t want them anymore, and in Aguirre’s case, the drama that existed during his tenure made it so it wasn’t a happy dissolution of partnership in Dallas.
But with Aguirre’s number getting retired, it now opens the door for the possibility of Luka Dončić’s No. 77 jersey hanging from the Mavericks’ rafters one day. Dončić, of course, didn’t force his way out of Dallas, but was rather blindsided when he was sent to the Lakers in a deal that landed the Mavericks Anthony Davis.
While Dončić doesn’t have a history of contentious relationships with teammates, in the immediate aftermath of the trade there were reports that Dallas’ front office had issues with the Slovenian superstar. Details of Dončić not taking his conditioning seriously enough, his penchant for complaining to referees, and playing sometimes egregious defense were all the reported reasons for the trade.
In both situations, Dončić and Aguirre were universally loved by Mavericks fan base, but issues existed within the franchise. In Dončić’s case, it was more of a one-sided beef with one specific person: Dallas general manager Nico Harrison, who spearheaded the decision to trade Dončić.
If Cuban had any stake in decision making, Dončić would certainly have his number retired and likely a statue outside the arena because he always wanted to be in Dallas. The new regime forced Dončić out of Dallas, but with Aguirre’s number hanging in the rafters, it certainly sets a precedent for Dončić’s number to one day being immortalized in Dallas’s arena. It might just have to be after new management — and maybe even ownership — is in charge.
