{"id":730081,"date":"2026-05-09T21:06:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T21:06:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/730081\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T21:06:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T21:06:20","slug":"today-should-be-an-all-day-party-because-hes-gone-sam-perkins-was-ecstatic-when-mark-aguirre-got-traded-from-the-dallas-mavericks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/730081\/","title":{"rendered":"“Today should be an all-day party because he’s gone” – Sam Perkins was ecstatic when Mark Aguirre got traded from the Dallas Mavericks"},"content":{"rendered":"

In NBA locker rooms \u2014 often framed as brotherhoods \u2014 you hear plenty of stories about players getting emotional when former teammates move on. Some even go out of their way to show up for each other years later. Jaren Jackson Jr.<\/a> and Ja Morant<\/a> recently did so by attending games featuring their former Memphis Grizzlies<\/a> teammate, Desmond Bane<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But not every split carries that kind of sentiment. Sometimes, things land very differently. That was certainly the case when\u00a0Mark Aguirre<\/a>\u00a0left the Dallas Mavericks<\/a>. It showed in the blunt reaction from within Dallas, especially from Sam Perkins, who was still on that team.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Aguirre’s exit sparked relief in Texas<\/p>\n

Perkins<\/a>\u00a0certainly couldn’t hide his relief when Aguirre left Dallas for Detroit<\/a> in February 1989. It made sense: for too long, the Mavericks forward had dealt with Mark’s antics, and with that gone, it was reason enough, in Sam’s mind, to celebrate.<\/p>\n

“Yesterday was Valentine’s Day, but today should be an all-day party because he’s gone,”\u00a0he\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0after the deal sent Aguirre to the\u00a0Pistons<\/a>\u00a0for Adrian Dantley and a first-round pick.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

And the former NCAA champion didn’t stop there. Perkins didn’t offer well-wishes so much as a warning to Aguirre’s new team.<\/p>\n

“Good luck, Detroit,”\u00a0he remarked, before adding,\u00a0“because you’ll need it.”<\/p>\n

If there had ever been any luck in Dallas, it had long since run out.<\/p>\n

The reason was simple.<\/p>\n

Ever since Ziggy had arrived as the top pick out of DePaul in 1981 \u2014 already carrying a reputation as a “bad actor” \u2014 the locker room had steadily grown weary of him. That sentiment became clear in how teammates spoke about the three-time All-Star later on, with Rolando Blackman putting it bluntly, stating,\u00a0“I won’t miss Mark.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

The coaching staff likely felt the same way. After all, by most accounts, Aguirre had clashed repeatedly with coaches Dick Motta and John MacLeod. Meanwhile, the 6’6″ small forward was drawing headlines for tantrums and trade demands.<\/p>\n

Related: “I ain’t got no money. I’m broke” – LeBron James claimed he is not a billionaire and his net worth is way less than Google indicates<\/a><\/p>\n

A dual legacy<\/p>\n

You know those players where genius and chaos lie so close together. Aguirre fit right in that realm.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

He was the\u00a0Mavericks’<\/a>\u00a0first real star. That usually comes with\u00a0averaging<\/a>\u00a0around 25 points a game over nearly a decade. Ziggy usually made it happen with an unconventional post-up game and a solid three-point shot.<\/p>\n

But that was just the basketball side. The other stuff \u2014 away from the court \u2014 was every bit as visible, and you just couldn’t ignore it.<\/p>\n

Motta once\u00a0screamed<\/a>,\u00a0“You’re worthless!”\u00a0and yanked him mid-game for helping an opponent up, calling it loafing. MacLeod predicted\u00a0“tantrums along the way,”\u00a0and DePaul coach Ray Meyer blamed an upbringing clashing with grown-ups.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Ex-Mavericks center James Donaldson\u00a0griped<\/a>\u00a0he would\u00a0“loaf around”\u00a0without effort. Blackman\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0Aguirre dominated only\u00a0“when in the right frame of mind”\u00a0and let teammates down.<\/p>\n

As for Perkins, he\u00a0questioned<\/a>\u00a0his\u00a0“moodiness”\u00a0and\u00a0“chemical imbalance.”<\/p>\n

For what Big Smooth had seen \u2014 and how others described it \u2014 it made sense that Aguirre’s unreliability would poison another contender. Dallas fans shared the sentiment. They booed their former star amid a playoff drought that followed.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Still, even if Ziggy could get on anyone’s nerves sometimes, his playing skills ultimately outweighed his arguably difficult personality. That said, Aguirre’s number 24 Mavericks jersey was retired in a ceremony during a late January 2026 game.<\/p>\n

Related: Isiah Thomas reveals why the Mavericks chose Mark Aguirre No. 1 overall over him in the 1981 Draft: “I just told them the truth”<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Basketball Network<\/a> on May 9, 2026, where it first appeared in the Old School<\/a> section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In NBA locker rooms \u2014 often framed as brotherhoods \u2014 you hear plenty of stories about players getting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":730082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3793],"tags":[7,686,149,4057,497,296,77897,178,496,9088,166,177,6,297,9005,4533],"class_list":["post-730081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas-mavericks","tag-basketball","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-mavericks","tag-dallasmavericks","tag-desmond-bane","tag-detroit","tag-dick-motta","tag-ja-morant","tag-jaren-jackson-jr","tag-mark-aguirre","tag-mavericks","tag-memphis-grizzlies","tag-nba","tag-pistons","tag-rolando-blackman","tag-sam-perkins"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116546658857934845","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730081","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=730081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/730082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=730081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=730081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=730081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}