The Dallas Mavericks began their 2023-2024 season on Wednesday night with a tough win over the now-in-the-spotlight Spurs in San Antonio, playing spoiler to rookie Victor Wembanyama’s NBA debut. They now travel back up to Dallas for their season home opener on Friday against the Brooklyn Nets. Most home openers are energetic, special, and full of optimism. This year’s opener will be no different, although it will feature another element: Raw Emotion.
This Friday’s game will be headlined by the return of former Maverick, Dorian Finney-Smith, for the first time to play in Dallas NOT as a member of the Mavericks. This man needs no introduction to those of you reading this piece. He has made an impact on any Mavs fan who followed the team at any point from 2017-2023. However, I will delve into my emotional fan connection to Dorian, and I know many of you will empathize. Get your tissues ready, Mavs fans, Friday night is going to be emotional.
Dorian played most of his college career at the University of Florida before going undrafted in the 2016 NBA Draft. Dallas signed Finney-Smith as an undrafted free agent in the 2016 off-season, and he began playing for the franchise immediately. He never averaged under 20 minutes per game during any season in his 6 ½ seasons in Dallas, and he began his career for the Mavs at the perfect time. Dorian was a player who needed time to develop, and the Mavs were a team who had time to develop players such as him. Years removed from their 2011 NBA Championship, Dallas had been middling for the most of the next 5 seasons, and the first few years of Finney-Smith’s career were no different for the team. Dorian is the epitome of a 3&D player in the modern NBA. At least, he eventually developed into one. He developed his jump shot so well with the franchise that he began his career with 3 straight seasons under 32% from the 3pt line, to eventually having 3 seasons straight of better than 37.5% from the 3pt line. Drastic improvement for a drastically lovable guy. As he grew as a player, his role grew with the team, and his impact on the organization and community at large grew even more.
You won’t find a single person with a bad thing to say about Dorian. His teammates love him, his coaches love him, the front office loves him, and the fans adore him. And most importantly, Dorian loved everyone back. There are plenty of professional athletes who do not reciprocate the love and adoration that an organization and fanbase display to the player. Rightfully so. There are no mandates that a player must have undying loyalty to the team, and they have every right to guard themselves from being attached to the community they are in. But it’s the players who love back just as much as they have been loved that make the largest impact.
I don’t have a singular moment that defines my love for Dorian Finney-Smith during his time in Dallas. It’s just an unexplainable vibe that you get when you say the name and observe the guy. The hilarious nickname duo of “Bang Bros” with former Maverick Reggie Bullock. His humorous and galvanizing post-game press conferences with Jeff “Skin” Wade several times every season. His grit and grind style on the court. His subtle way of talking trash to opposing teams every time he made a 3-point shot near the opposing bench. This and many more moments define his on the court time with Dallas and are the epitome of the impact he made for the team. His impact doesn’t stop there, for he loved the Dallas community and gave back many times more than he was given.
When Dorian Finney-Smith was traded in February 2023 to the Brooklyn Nets in part for Kyrie Irving, it was the melancholiest day. I was happy to have Kyrie in Dallas, who would raise the ceiling for contention. But losing Dorian hurt. Really hurt. In the back of my mind, I knew for a couple of years that if Dallas were to contend eventually for a title, then it would be without Dorian on the team. Contracts, age timeline and talent ceilings being the main reasons. Knowing the day was coming didn’t make it any easier when it occurred. But that’s how professional sports go.
One of my favorite Texas Rangers players of all-time was Elvis Andrus, and as we prepare for a Texas Rangers 2023 World Series, it hurts me inside that he is not a part of it. But he will always be in my eyes. Just as Dorian would be if the Mavericks make a championship run in the near future. You can’t ever forget the impact that a player like Dorian has made on a team, even years after they part ways.
In the end, it is not the end of the world. Dorian no longer being a Maverick is not a real-life tragedy. There are hundreds and hundreds of world calamities on a continual basis that require the mental headspace of grief and mourning. But as a sports fan, seeing an impactful person on your sports fanhood like Finney-Smith be in a different team’s jersey, playing in your home stadium… that’s tough.
There will be tears. There will be smiles. And there absolutely will be standing ovations galore. As we prepare for the first time Dorian returns to Dallas, I must say I have zero doubts that he has not played his final games in a Dallas uniform. That’s one of the sweet parts of this bittersweet evening that we encroach upon.
Dorian, Dallas Loves You, and we always will.