introduced to Carter by Mayor Robert Folsom, one of the owners and team president of the last professional basketball team in the city, the Dallas Chaparrals of the American Basketball Association, which moved to San Antonio in 1973 becoming the San Antonio Spurs. Sonju and Carter tried purchasing both the Milwaukee Bucks and the Kansas City Kings, but disagreement on relocation stalled the negotiations, leading them to instead aim for an expansion team. The league was initially reluctant to expand to Dallas, given Texas had both the Spurs and Houston Rockets. The 1978–79 season was proving unprofitable (18 out of the 22 teams lost money) and unpopular (television ratings fell 26 percent). Still, during the 1979 NBA All-Star Game weekend, NBA commissioner Larry O'Brien announced the league would add two new teams in the 1980–81 season, with teams in Dallas and Minneapolis. Once the potential Minnesota owners backed out, only Dallas remained. (The Minnesota Timberwolves would not join until 1989.) Through negotiations with general counselor and future commissioner David Stern, the expansion fee was settled on $12.5 million. Carter would provide half the amount. At the 1980 NBA All-Star Game, league owners voted to admit the new team, with the team's name coming from the 1957–1962 TV western Maverick; the fans chose the title with 4,600 postcards received, beating Wranglers and Express. James Garner, who played the title character, was a member of the ownership group. The University of Texas at Arlington, who also uses the Mavericks nickname, had objections about a shared name but did not attempt any legal action. They joined the Midwest Division of the Western Conference, where they would stay until the league went to six divisions for the 2004–05 season. Dick Motta, who had guided the Washington Bullets to the NBA Championship in 1977–78, was hired as the team's first head coach. The Mavs drafted Kiki VanDeWeghe of UCLA with the 11th pick of the 1980 NBA draft. Still, VanDeWeghe refused to play for the expansion Mavericks and staged a holdout that lasted a month into its inaugural season. VanDeWeghe was traded to the Denver Nuggets, along with a first-round pick, in 1981, in exchange for two future first-round picks that eventually materialized into Rolando Blackman in 1981, and Sam Vincent in 1985. In the Mavericks debut game, taking place in the brand-new Reunion Arena, the Mavericks defeated the Spurs, 103–92. But the Mavs started