Rick Carlisle, Dwane Casey and Terry Stotts each were fired as head coach of the Indiana Pacers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Milwaukee Bucks around the same time in 2007.

The trio sat out the 07-08 season and interviewed with a number of teams as a package deal before settling on the Dallas Mavericks.

“Rick and I joked about this,” Casey says. “If he got a head coaching job, he would hire me as an assistant. And if I got a head coaching job, I was going to hire him as an assistant. We kind of bonded together on this. We got Terry with us and we kind of interviewed as a staff.

“We met with the Knicks. We interviewed in Chicago. We met with Donnie Nelson at Rick’s house. The next morning, Mark Cuban flew into Indy and we interviewed again. We were a package deal. Rick was the head coach. I was in charge of the defence. Terry was in charge of the offence.”

The Mavericks went on to win the title in 2011. Casey was then hired by the Toronto Raptors and Stotts went to the Portland Trail Blazers.

Dirk Nowitzki has confirmed he will return next season for his 20th with the Dallas Mavericks.

Nowitzki said in early March that he planned to continue his career.

Nowitzki averaged 14.2 points and 6.5 rebounds per game this season as his minutes dropped to 26.4 per game.

Nowitzki had a PER of 17.0, which is still above league average but was his lowest since his second NBA season.

Mark Cuban wanted Tony Romo to actually play in Tuesday's game for the Dallas Mavericks.

Romo recently retired to join CBS as a game analyst.

"I told him what I was going to do and said, 'Fine me if you don't like it.'"

Silver told Cuban the contract would not be honored, which killed the idea but did not stop the Mavericks from honoring Romo.

Romo dressed for the game and warmed up with the Mavericks.

"Signing him and stuff like that, would have been too much for a lot of reasons," Rick Carlisle said. "No. 1, he's a football athlete that's not ready to play in an NBA game. That's very risky. No. 2, to sign a guy with all of our requirements from a physical standpoint with the hours and hours of screening and all that kinds of other stuff, it just wasn't worth going there. And that's not really what this is about."

Romo was an excellent basketball player in high school.

The Dallas Mavericks have claimed DeAndre Liggins off waivers.

Liggins has a non-guaranteed deal for the 17-18 season.

The Cleveland Cavaliers will save $2.5 million in luxury tax payments with the Mavericks claiming Liggins.

Dallas was the only team in the NBA with an available roster spot.