Mark Aguirre spent nearly 8 seasons with the Mavs and was a 3-time All-Star in Dallas.
The first No. 1 overall pick in Dallas Mavericks history will be its next player to have his jersey retired.
The Mavs announced Monday they will retire the No. 24 jersey of Mark Aguirre, who played for the team from 1981-89, in a ceremony on Jan. 29, 2026 when the team plays the Charlotte Hornets.
January 29, 2026 🤠
Join us as we raise #24 to the rafters and honor Mark Aguirre — the 1981 No. 1 overall pick who helped build the foundation of Mavericks basketball. Forever a Maverick 💚#MFFL pic.twitter.com/veD9sDPVIb
— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) October 27, 2025
Dallas has previously retired No. 12 (Derek Harper), No. 15 (Brad Davis), No. 22 (Rolando Blackman) and No. 41 (Dirk Nowitzki). Aguirre played with Harper, Davis and Blackman in the Mavs’ heyday in the 1980s.
Per Mavs.com, Aguirre learned of this honor on Oct. 22 and was taken aback by the gesture.
“Wow, this is too much for me,” Aguirre said, per Mavs.com. “My kids always wanted to witness this. Was this ever going to happen? I’ll talk to them all night tonight. Daddy’s jersey is retired. Wow, man. This is big. This is huge.”
The Mavs took Aguirre with the No. 1 overall pick in the 1981 draft and he became a three-time All-Star with Dallas (1983-84, ’86-87 and ’87-88) before he was dealt to the Detroit Pistons in 1989. While with Detroit, he was a key piece in their back-to-back title teams in ’89 and ’90 and retired from the NBA after playing the 1993-94 season with the LA Clippers.
Aguirre set the team record for points in a season with 2,330 in 1983-84, which stood until the 2023-24 season when Luka Dončić (2,370) surpassed it. He is the No. 3 all-time scorer in team history (13,930 points) and ranks in the Top 10 in steals, rebounds, field goals made and attempted and free throws made and attempted.
Aguirre told Mavs.com he was caught off guard by the jersey retirement.
“I had no idea,” he said. “For a basketball player, there’s nothing bigger than getting your jersey retired. That means nobody else can wear it.”
