In January 2000, Mark Cuban purchased the Dallas Mavericks, a middling team just finding identity in a tall German shooter and innovative head coach after a miserable decade of basketball. The franchise, having just celebrated its two-decade anniversary, was also set to move across Downtown Dallas in two seasons. With those changes, another became obvious: it was time for the Mavericks, and their logos, jerseys, and merchandise, to be completely overhauled.



Cuban knew this, but he knew little about design. Three months into team ownership, he hired a vice president of marketing from Coca-Cola, assigned him the project and forwarded him dozens of emails from freelance designers pitching ideas. There were few requirements, but Matt Fitzgerald remembers one in particular.



“Whatever you do, make sure it goes with jeans,” Fitzgerald, the hire, recalls Cuban saying, “because that’s all I wear.”



Since the team’s inception in 1980...