Retired NBA forward Shawn Marion was fortunate to play with two standout teams of their time during his 16-year professional tenure. Marion spent the first eight-and-a-half years playing for the Phoenix Suns and head coach Mike D'Antoni's “Seven Seconds or Less” teams before later winning a championship on the 2011 Dallas Mavericks.

Marion, who retired after a single season with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2014-15, is now saying the Mavs would have won another title if he stayed in Dallas.

Per Alex Kennedy in HoopsHype:

When I had DeShawn Stevenson on the podcast, he said that there’s no question that you guys would’ve repeated as champs if that Mavericks team had stayed together.

SM: Oh, I think it’s possible too. If we had a chance to run it back, I think so too. Yeah.

Marion was a four-time All-Star in his stint with the Suns before transitioning to a new team, the Mavs, in a later stretch of his career—his 30's. “The Matrix” was an integral part on both sides of the ball for the Mavericks, though, playing next to future Hall of Fame power forward Dirk Nowitzki, future All-Star center and Defensive Player of the Year with the New York Knicks Tyson Chandler, and current Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Jason Kidd at point guard.

Much of that Mavs team changed in the following offseason after winning the Texas franchise's first title, with Chandler leaving in free agency. Caron Butler, a mid-season acquisition, also signing elsewhere, and DeShawn Stevenson leaving as well.

The chemistry of an NBA team is a fickle business, and who knows if the Mavs would have appeared in the Finals to face the Miami Heat again in 2012.