[1] In the off-season, the Mavericks acquired three-point specialist Dennis Scott from the Orlando Magic,[2][3][4][5] and signed free agent Hubert Davis.
[17][18][19][20] The Mavericks posted a 15-game losing streak between December and January, which led to a dreadful 5–27 start, then later holding a 9–38 record at the All-Star break.
[21] Players like Shawn Bradley, Robert Pack, Kurt Thomas and second-year forward Samaki Walker all missed large parts of the season with injuries.
[22] At mid-season, the team traded Scott to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for Cedric Ceballos,[23][24][25][26] who only played just twelve games before sitting out the remainder of the season with a knee injury.
Nelson used a strategy for Wells to foul Bulls forward and rebound-specialist Dennis Rodman, who is known as a poor free throw shooter.