violated the league's substance abuse policy for the third time and was banned from the NBA for life. The former Sixth Man Award winner's fall from grace was complete. The few talented players the Mavericks had remaining to them were lost to injury. Brad Davis' back problems forced him to retire in mid-January, and Fat Lever had knee surgery again on January 29, missing the remainder of the season—hardly worth the cost of losing two first-round draft picks. The team finished with a 22–60 record. In 1992–93, the rebuilding began in earnest, with the Mavs trading Rolando Blackman—who by that point had surpassed Mark Aguirre as the team's all-time leading scorer—to the New York Knicks for a first-round draft pick. Blackman had made four All-Star Game appearances in his Mavericks career. Herb Williams joined the Knicks as a free agent. Fat Lever underwent more surgery and missed the entire 1992–93 season. Derek Harper was the team's only bright spot, leading the team with 18.3 points per game. The Mavericks selected Ohio State guard Jim Jackson with the fourth overall pick of the 1992 NBA draft, but he and owner Donald Carter could not come to terms on a contract for half of his rookie season. Jackson only played 28 games in 1992–93, a season also ruined by trades, a coaching change, and injuries. The Mavericks started 2–27 and fired Adubato on January 13, replacing him with Gar Heard. The Mavericks came dangerously close to setting the all-time worst record in NBA history (at the time, 9–73 by the 1972–73 Philadelphia 76ers). But when Jackson was signed on March 3, the Mavs rallied, closing the season with a 7–14 mark, including two straight wins to end the season and finishing 11–71, the second-worst record in NBA history. Dallas selected Kentucky forward Jamal Mashburn with the fourth overall pick of the 1993 NBA draft and hired Quinn Buckner as head coach. Buckner decided from the start to be a disciplinarian on the model of his college coach, Bobby Knight, who told Buckner that the only way he'd succeed with the Mavs would be to run the team with an iron hand. The mostly young roster did not respond very well to Buckner's stern coaching style and started 1–23. By the end of January, they were 3–40, and it was once again possible that they could tie the 1973 Sixers for the all-time