Mark Cuban, the team owner, initially wasn’t excited about creating traditional championship rings after the Dallas Mavericks won their first NBA Championship in 2011.
“I’ll tell you something, I might not get rings. Rings are old school, said Cuban.
The players, particularly Jason Kidd and Dirk Nowitzki, led Chris Poitras, General Manager and Senior Vice President of Jostens’ Professional Sports Division, to change their minds, according to him.
However, according to Chris Poitras, General Manager and Senior Vice President of Jostens’ Professional Sports Division, The players, particularly Jason Kidd and Dirk Nowitzki, ultimately changed Cuban’s mind.
“In 2011, Mark Cuban mentioned he wasn’t initially keen on doing championship rings, but the team insisted,” Poitras confirmed in an interview with R.org. “Everything you mentioned was accurate. But the biggest thing that stood out was how much Jason Kidd and Dirk Nowitzki drove the process. The ring truly meant a lot to them. When Mark and the organization sat down and heard how deeply it mattered to those two, Mark was incredibly supportive. He wanted to make sure they were celebrated exactly the way they deserved.”
Cuban’s attitude completely changed once he comprehended the emotional importance of the rings. “What really resonated with me was Mark’s commitment once he understood what it meant to Jason and Dirk,” Poitras said.
“He said, ‘We need to create the best ring in the world for these guys.’ That kind of passion sets the tone for the entire project.”
Designing the “Best Ring in the World”
According to Poitras, designing and producing the Mavericks’ 2011 championship rings was a unique challenge, both in terms of design and production timing. It’s typical for Jostens to spend between six and eight weeks designing a ring and then another several weeks producing and delivering it. The team faced an accelerated schedule because of the NBA lockout that followed the championship.
“They won the championship in June, but the NBA went into a work stoppage soon after,” Poitras explained. “The season didn’t start until December, so we had a very short window once the lockout ended. It was important to Mark that the players be involved, so we compressed what’s normally a six-to-eight-week design process into about three weeks — and then delivered the rings just two weeks later.”
A Symbol of Dedication and Legacy
Jostens produced a stunning product that became one of the company’s most memorable projects despite the limited timeline.
“Looking back, that condensed timeline was a huge challenge we didn’t anticipate,” Poitras reflected. “But it was also one of the most meaningful projects we’ve ever done, because it showed how much that championship — and those rings — meant to everyone involved.”
The rings were a symbol of both victory and perseverance for the Mavericks, a perfect reflection of their franchise and fanbase, who had been waiting for their moment of triumph for years.
