The 2002–03 NBA season was the Mavericks' 23rd season in the National Basketball Association. During the offseason, the Mavericks signed free agent Walt Williams. The Mavericks started the season strong by winning their first fourteen games of the season, which was one win shy of tying the NBA record set by the 1948–49 Washington Capitols and the 1993–94 Houston Rockets (15–0). They later finished with a 60–22 record and lost the tiebreaker with the Spurs for the Midwest Division title. Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash were both selected to play in the 2003 NBA All-Star Game. It was the second straight All-Star appearance for both players.

The Mavericks defeated the Portland Trail Blazers in a tough seven game first round. Although they lost Game 1 at home against the Sacramento Kings in the next round, they turned on the juice in Game 2, where Kings captain Chris Webber suffered a season-ending injury that ruined Sacramento's title hopes. It would be the Nick Van Exel show as he scored 36 points to tie the series 1–1. In Game 3 at the ARCO Arena, it would be the Van Exel show once again as he scored a career and playoff-high 40 points to help the Mavericks take the series 2–1. Dallas defeated the Kings in seven games, to advance to the Conference Finals where they met their in-state rival, the San Antonio Spurs. However, things started to turn ugly for Dallas as team captain Nowitzki suffered a knee injury in game 3. Without Dirk, the Mavericks would go on to lose the series in six games. San Antonio won its second NBA Championship. Following the season, Van Exel was traded to the Golden State Warriors, Raef LaFrentz was traded to the Boston Celtics and Williams retired.

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