It’s an exciting time in the city of Dallas once again. After lifting the NBA championship in 2011, the Mavericks haven’t made much noise around the league.

Their recent uninspiring seasons have come in conjunction with the latter stages of legendary power forward Dirk Nowitzki’s career, who will eventually retire as the franchise’s greatest player. Nowitzki has been an incredible servant for the organization, and as he continues to kick on year after year, the time has come for the Mavericks to turn the corner and really make a run at their future.

The transformation began last season, as the Mavericks drafted five-star talent Dennis Smith Jr. in the lottery. The explosive and athletic point guard had a solid rookie season, showing his upside can be special for the franchise moving forward. The Mavericks than backed that up this season as they made a big splash to acquire European wonder kid Luka Doncic in a trade with the Atlanta Hawks for Trae Young on draft night in a huge coup.

All of a sudden, the Mavs have found themselves with potentially the best backcourt in the league in four to five years’ time. Smith Jr. has already shown he’s going to be a great NBA player, and Doncic is the best European prospect we’ve maybe ever seen. He’s been turning heads since he was 14 years old, and Doncic has continued to dominate most recently for Spanish giants Real Madrid. Now, at just 19 years old, Doncic is already more talented than most in the draft, and more importantly, considerably younger as well.

With what seems like a long-term project, the Mavs suddenly added another twist in their plans as they renewed their interest in star big man Deandre Jordan. Yesterday, Jordan decided to opt out of his player option with the L.A. Clippers and test the market as an unrestricted free agent.

If you recall, the Mavs and Mark Cuban were very interested in Jordan just three seasons ago, and with a verbal agreement already in place, Jordan then turned his back on the deal as his Clippers’ teammates JJ Reddick, Chris Paul, and Blake Griffin convinced him to stay in Los Angeles. Fast forward to now, and we may finally be seeing Jordan in a Mavericks jersey after all.

It seemed unlikely the Mavs would chase a star given Nowtizki will likely call it a day at the end of this upcoming season, and the goal is for future success down the line, but with Jordan becoming available, they have made the athletic center their top priority.

Of course, there is already a huge amount of interest in Jordan services, but the Mavs are already pulling out all the stops to lure the big man to Dallas. One of the recruiters seems to be newly drafted star Doncic, who swiftly followed Jordan on social media despite them never meeting.

A truly savvy move by the young stud, it seems as though even the players are aware of the interest and are jumping at the opportunity to play with one of the best centers in the league.