The Mavs have Something to Prove
Photo by Teri Michelle Johnson
After 16 years of inconsistency, the Mavericks are back in Shreveport, Louisiana and ready to set roots…for real this time.
The Mavericks have a rich and intricate history in their brief life span. The Shreveport Mavericks started out as the Rio Grande Valley Silverados based in McAllen, Texas. After several seasons in Texas, the basketball team switched names and locations five times (Rio Grande Valley Silverados to the Southeast Texas Mustangs to the Southeast Texas Mavericks to the Shreveport Mavericks to the Kentucky Mavericks and finally back to the Shreveport Mavericks).
Along with their abundant name and location changes, the team also switched from the Continental Basketball Association to the American Basketball Association. After the Mavericks dominated the ABA for several years, they appealed to the National Basketball Association to join their D-League in 2011 but were denied that request. After being denied, they decided to take a two-year hiatus and then moved to Shreveport, Louisiana in 2013. Then, in 2015, the Mavericks picked up and moved to Owensboro, Kentucky. After two short years, the Kentucky Mavericks announced that they would be ceasing operations. Now, after a six-year hiatus, the Shreveport Mavericks have been revived. This time, the Mavericks are a part of The Basketball League (TBL).
The Mavericks have now set up camp in Shreveport for the first time since 2015 (6 years). Being a successful basketball team on the court has notoriously not been enough for this franchise. So, what’s missing?
Basketball is a huge draw in Louisiana, so fans should not be hard to come by, but in the past, the Mavericks have not been successful at creating trust and building a firm foundation for their organization. The biggest asset for any professional sports team is reliability, and that almost never comes from the outcome of the game itself. Fans want to be a part of something greater, something that goes beyond the court, and this is exactly where the team has fallen short in the past. To build a strong relationship with their fans, the Mavericks will have to do a lot more than just be a good basketball team to survive. They will have to show Shreveport that they are a part of the community and that they are here to stay.
Trust is not built over night, and for an organization with such a bumpy history, it will most likely prove to be a challenge. But, if the Mavericks really do want to prove that they are worthy of being a part of our city, then the path to get there will be worth it.
The Mavericks play out of the LSUS Gymnasium, Centenary’s Gold Dome, and Captain Shreve’s high school gymnasium. The 2022 season began on March 4th and the remainder of their schedule can be found at: https://hosted.dcd.shared.geniussports.com/TBBL/en/team/138451/schedule
