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We Asked AI for the Mavericks' All-Time Starting Five (And There's a Huge Omission)

There are a couple positions up for debate in the Dallas Mavericks' all-time starting five, but the position AI whiffed on here is not one of them.

By Jason Schandl

AI's all-time Dallas Mavericks starting five has a laughable omission.
AI's all-time Dallas Mavericks starting five has a laughable omission. / Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
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While we count down the dwindling days of the offseason, it feels like every Dallas Mavericks storyline for the year has been hashed out to death. There's nothing left to speculate on until we finally get to see some real live-game action.

So instead, let's take a little look at the all-time conversation, shall we?

For an added wrinkle to the usual discussion, we decided to ask OpenAI's ChatGPT for its take on the Dallas Mavericks' all-time starting five. Most of the picks made sense, but there was a real head-scratcher in there as well:

"Point Guard: Jason Kidd
Shooting Guard: Rolando Blackman
Small Forward: Michael Finley
Power Forward: Dirk Nowitzki
Center: Tyson Chandler"

- ChatGPT

Let's start with what it got right before addressing the elephant in the room here.

The easiest and most obvious pick is Dirk — if it didn't get that one I'd seriously question why anyone is excited about this thing at all. Rolando Blackman at shooting guard? Same thing.

At point guard I'm not going to get too beat up about the Jason Kidd pick. I'm a Steve Nash guy myself, and I know a lot of you think the Nash/Kidd debate is really about who gets the #2 spot after Derek Harper. But whoever you favor, it's not like Kidd is a bad pick.

Center is not a historic position of strength for the Mavs, and the conversation really comes down to James Donaldson or Tyson Chandler. Donaldson has the longevity, but Chandler was more productive in Dallas and was a key piece of the championship team.

So that's two obvious picks plus two that are debatable, but not necessarily bad. And then there's the small forward spot.

Michael Finley over Mark Aguirre is a choice, certainly.

I mean, I love Fin Dawg as much as (or maybe more than) the next guy. I grew up in the late 90's, so I have fond memories of his prime. But come on.

Aguirre was the Mavericks’ all-time per-game scoring leader until Luka Doncic came along. He has Finely beat in points per game (24.6 to 19.8) and rebounds per game (5.7 to 5.2) while they’re tied in assists per game (3.8). Aguirre also did that in significantly fewer minutes (33.8 to 39.7).

It's not even a debate. Aguirre is a lock as a top-five (and is maybe a top-three) Maverick of all time regardless of position, and leaving him off the all-time starting five is laughable.

I guess the robots aren't coming for NBA analysts jobs any time soon.

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