{"id":672036,"date":"2026-03-22T04:56:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T04:56:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/672036\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T04:56:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T04:56:19","slug":"mavericks-home-drought-continues-in-ot-loss-to-clippers-but-fan-fervor-remains-in-dallas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/672036\/","title":{"rendered":"Mavericks\u2019 home drought continues in OT loss to Clippers but fan fervor remains in Dallas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Almost unbelievably, the Mavericks<\/a> had not won a home game in 58 days, but if you didn\u2019t know that, you wouldn\u2019t have guessed it from Saturday night\u2019s atmosphere in American Airlines Center.<\/p>\n

Nearly all 19,200 seats were filled by tipoff. From start to finish, there was no indication of March Sadness as the Mavericks, losers of 10 straight home games, battled the Los Angeles Clippers. <\/p>\n

Alas for the fans, Dallas again fell, 138-131 in overtime, extending a home drought that now exceeds two months to a January 22 win over Golden State. But this night again highlighted the largely unsung, most pleasant surprise of this 23-48 Dallas season. <\/p>\n

Mavericks fans, take a bow.<\/p>\n

Mavericks<\/p>\n

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Gut punches continue, but fans keep coming back. The 11 straight home losses are the most since Dallas lost 12 straight near the end of the 1993-94 season. Of course, that season\u2019s Mavericks were so woeful that they opened the year with 19 straight home defeats.<\/p>\n

The following year, a rookie point guard named Jason Kidd helped re-energize the fan base.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we have the best sports fans, supportive,\u201d now-Mavericks coach Kidd said, after his team got outscored 16-9 in overtime.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fans still love their Mavs,\u201d he added. \u201cAnd these Mavs players today are playing hard and understanding they\u2019re not playing as if their record is 20-something and 50. That just shows the character in that locker room, and the character of our fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re smart basketball fans. And they understand the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along with home losses, this year\u2019s fans must endure ex-Maverick Luka Doncic\u2019s recent burst of extra brilliance<\/a> for the Lakers. Still, fans keep showing up to AAC \u2014 slightly fewer in number, but loyal and raucous, nonetheless.<\/p>\n

On Saturday they again celebrated the little moments and, above all, the continued development of 19-year-old rookie sensation Cooper Flagg<\/a>, who finished with 18 points, nine rebounds and seven assists while often matched against Clippers veteran star Kawhi Leonard.<\/p>\n

Primetime face-off: See photos from the Mavericks’ game against the Clippers<\/p>\n

\"DallasView Gallery<\/p>\n

With the score tied at 122 after a Leonard shot in the lane with 19 seconds left in regulation, Flagg missed a potential game-winning 22-footer with 1.2 seconds left.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fans are still showing up for us,\u201d Flagg said. \u201cObviously we haven\u2019t given them a lot to show up for every single night, and haven\u2019t given them the wins, but I still have loved the support that they\u2019ve given me. Given the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just have to do a better job of giving them things to be happy for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hope and excitement. Former Mavericks coach and Naismith Hall of Famer Don Nelson often said those are the most important intangibles for franchises to sell to fans \u2013 and Mavericks fans are buying, despite what some of this season\u2019s attendance figures indicate.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all in how closely you look into the numbers. <\/p>\n

From the 2002-2003 season, Dallas\u2019 second in American Airlines Center, through last season, the Mavericks franchise reported sellouts for all home games except for the COVID-19 season of 2020-21.<\/p>\n

This season? In 35 home games entering Saturday, the Mavericks had recorded 18 sellouts and 17 non-sellouts \u2013 with 10 games in which attendance dropped below 19,000.<\/p>\n

But in past seasons under former team governor Mark Cuban, the Mavericks counted tickets sold \u2013 and in some cases given away \u2013 rather than actual fans in the building. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a philosophy that we don\u2019t share, that going forward we were going to be much more transparent about what\u2019s going on,\u201d Mavericks second-year CEO Rick Welts told The Dallas Morning News, treading delicately around the topic of Dallas\u2019 two-decade-plus sellout streak.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever the sellout streak ended,\u201d Welts said, \u201cwe officially put it to bed, just to say we\u2019re not going to do that going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Certainly the Mavericks still wish they were filling the building to the brim every home game. Yet the reality is their season-long home attendance entering Saturday \u2013 673,195 \u2013 ranked sixth in the NBA, and their average home attendance (19,234) was just above AAC\u2019s listed capacity of 19,200.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m feeling great about it,\u201d Welts said. \u201cWe\u2019re giving away a lot fewer tickets than historically we\u2019ve given away before.\u201d<\/p>\n

The past five weeks have brought more positive news. Season ticket holders were informed of their renewal phase on Feb. 16, with an auto-pay\/renewal deadline of March 16.<\/p>\n

Welts said 87% of 2025-26 season ticket holders have renewed for 2026-2027, and that the number certainly will climb to 90% in the coming days.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m ecstatic about that,\u201d Welts said. \u201cI think that tells me people see the future in a way that we hope they see the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

It certainly didn\u2019t hurt that the franchise elected to freeze season-ticket prices<\/a> for 2026-27, after increases<\/a> each of the past two seasons.<\/p>\n

Welts described what he believed might be a tense meeting with Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont. Using data from secondary market resales, Mavericks officials had determined that roughly 10% of American Airlines Center\u2019s tickets were priced at under-market rates.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went to Patrick with some very well thought out selective price increases,\u201d Welts said. \u201cHe shut it down in the first five minutes of the conversation. In so many words he said, \u2018Look, we didn\u2019t deliver the team we expected to put on the court this year and we\u2019re not gonna raise prices for that.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never experienced anything like that before,\u201d added Welts, who has been an NBA executive for nearly a half-century.<\/p>\n

Still, when season-ticket renewals went out, Welts thought: \u201cIt was a big \u2018I\u2019m not sure.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

The Mavericks believe they pulled a major hiring coup two months ago when they lured away from the San Diego Padres Curt Waugh, now Dallas\u2019 senior vice president of sales.<\/p>\n

Welts called Waugh a superstar and gives him some credit for the team\u2019s strong ticket-renewal rate. Still …<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, it\u2019s fans who decide they want to be in or don\u2019t want to be in,\u201d Welts said. \u201cTo be 87% on the way to 90% to say we\u2019re in for next season is a really good number for any team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Los<\/a>Luka Doncic reportedly seeking dismissal of child support petition filed by ex-fianc\u00e9e<\/a><\/p>\n

The report comes after Doncic said he ended his yearslong engagement to Anamaria Goltes and that he would \u201cfight\u201d to be with his daughters.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>Mavericks 2026 tank tracker: What are Dallas\u2019 chances of landing No. 1 pick in NBA draft?<\/a><\/p>\n

Could the Mavericks\u2019 lottery luck from 2025 carry into the new year?<\/p>\n

Find more Mavericks coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Almost unbelievably, the Mavericks had not won a home game in 58 days, but if you didn\u2019t know…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":672037,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3793],"tags":[1297,7,225,686,149,4057,166,6,9125,66,10],"class_list":["post-672036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas-mavericks","tag-article","tag-basketball","tag-cooper-flagg","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-mavericks","tag-dallasmavericks","tag-mavericks","tag-nba","tag-rick-welts","tag-sports","tag-sports-business"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116271055247612712","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=672036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/672037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}