Davis has been a part of the Mavericks broadcast team continually since 1997.
Dallas Mavericks legend Brad Davis is retiring — this time from the radio.
Squoze in at the bottom of Monday’s announcement of MavsTV, the Mavericks’ new subscription-based streaming option, was a note that reads:
“Mavs legend and radio sportscaster Brad Davis announced his retirement from the radio broadcast this summer. As one of only four former Mavericks players with their jerseys retired, Davis has provided game commentary since 1997.”
What gives, Mavs? No one told us!
His longtime broadcast partner Chuck Cooperstein, posted his well wishes on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday morning.
What you might have surmised during pre season, the Mavs made official today. After 27 seasons (the last 19 with me), Brad Davis has retired as the analyst on Mavs Radio. We experienced so much together, I wish (and hope you will too) a happy retirement & a lot of 20 footers made
— Chuck Cooperstein (@coopmavs) October 21, 2024
Davis signed with the Mavericks from the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) during the team’s first season in 1980-81. He became one of the first cornerstones of the franchise alongside Mark Aguirre, Rolondo Blackman and a couple years later, Derek Harper. He played for 12 seasons in Dallas, and his Number #15 jersey was the first the Mavericks retired — in 1992, his final year on the roster.
In college, Davis played for hall-of-famer Lefty Driessel at Maryland, where he was backcourt mates with the great John Lucas II. In the pros he made a name for himself by taking those vicious charges only the 1980s could provide basketball fans with squarely on the chin, his patented wind-crank-and-fling shooting motion and that otherworldly perm and mustache game.
He went from the team roster to the coaching staff and broadcast booth with hardly a break in between. Davis retired as a player in 1992, was an assistant coach from 1993-95, then started on the broadcast team in 1997. As we wrote about a couple days ago, Tim Legler credits Davis and then interim coach Gar Heard with plucking him out of the CBA and giving him a chance with the Mavs as a regular NBA rotation player.
Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images
Best wishes in retirement to a guy who became a true Dallas Mavericks lifer, just as soon as he got here.
The team announced that Brian Dameris, former Director of Basketball Development and studio host, will step in to fill Davis’ shoes on the radio broadcast. Dameris made headlines in November 2023 when he took to the Bally Sports Southwest (RIP) airwaves with a prepared two-minute rant lacing into James Harden, his attitude and his style of play as part of a Mavericks-Clippers pregame show. It was a head-scratcher, but a lot of people seemed to enjoy the take, even though he started it off with one of the all-time self-aggrandizing preambles, “I hope you’re taking notes. I’m telling you in advance, ‘You’re welcome’ for the wisdom I’m about to spew.”
Dameris would issue an apology for the tirade two games later, conveniently excerpted below.
I want to start right off the top and express my apologies for James Harden and the Clippers organization for my comments on Friday night. I’m sorry. And I want to apologize to the Mavericks organization and the fans who turned in for my comments on Friday. My comments were not consistent with my values or the values of Bally Sports Southwest and the Mavericks organization and for that, I am truly sorry. Sports are a vehicle to bring people together and uplift one another. There’s enough tearing us apart in this world for me to be adding to it. I don’t want to be that person and I will be better. I am sorry.
With the fun-loving bunch of Cooperstein and Dameris in the booth, who knows what Dallas Mavericks radio listeners are in for this season.