[2] When his coach was fired, Aguirre transferred to George Westinghouse College Prep where he led the team to the Chicago Public High School League championship during his senior year.

[3] He also was the USBWA College Player of the Year and James Naismith Award winner in 1980, and a two-time member of The Sporting News' All-America first team.

The Chicago native played alongside Terry Cummings at DePaul, and found himself in the national spotlight during his three years at the university.

The Mavericks continued their ascent, bettering their record to 38–44 to finish ahead of Utah and the Houston Rockets in the Midwest Division.

Although Aguirre was the Mavericks' main weapon, he was helped by the emergence of Rolando Blackman (22.4 ppg) and the contributions of role players Brad Davis and Pat Cummings.

Dallas finished second in the Midwest at 43–39, and the team made its first playoff trip, beating the Seattle SuperSonics in the opening round before losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in the conference semifinals.

In 1984–85 they made a quick exit from the playoffs, bowing to the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round; in 1985–86 they defeated Utah and then took the Lakers to six games in the conference semifinals.

The 1987–88 edition of the franchise went 53–29, beat Houston and the Denver Nuggets in the first two rounds of the postseason, then extended the Lakers to seven games before losing in the Western Conference Finals.

[7] Midway through the 1988–89 season Aguirre was traded to the Detroit Pistons for Adrian Dantley, who was also one of the league's top scorers, and a first round draft pick on February 15, 1989.

He showed he could blend into a successful team by taking fewer shots, playing hard on defense, and not complaining when his younger teammate Dennis Rodman's minutes increased.

In the 1990 playoffs, which culminated with Detroit repeating as champions with a five-game NBA Finals win over Portland, Aguirre averaged 11 points a game.