The Mavericks played their inaugural season in
1980, joining the Rockets in Texas, who had moved to Houston in the
1972 NBA season. Both teams joined the San Antonio Spurs as the three NBA teams in Texas. The teams first faced each other on October 29, 1980. Houston won the first matchup 109-103. The teams first met in the playoffs in
1988 in the first round. The Mavericks, the third seed, defeated the Rockets, the sixth seed, in five games. On April 11,
1995, the Mavericks defeated the Rockets 156–147 in double overtime. Two years later, the Rockets and Mavericks played the first-ever regular season game played in
Mexico City, which was won by the Rockets 108–106. In
2005, the teams would meet again in the postseason. Houston, the fifth seed, took a 2-0 series lead over the fourth seeded Mavericks, but lost the series in seven games. During the
2013 NBA Playoffs, then Mavericks owner
Mark Cuban and Rockets general manager
Daryl Morey exchanged posts on
Twitter. In the
2014 offseason former Rockets forward
Chandler Parsons signe an offer sheet to leave the Rockets to for the Mavericks for $46 million, while making negative statements about the city of Houston upon leaving. Both teams met in the first round of the
2015 NBA playoffs, with the Rockets as the second seed and Mavericks the seventh seed, with Rockets winning the series in five games. Both teams met in the inaugural
2023 NBA In-Season Tournament, which was held during the regular season, in West Group B, where the Mavericks defeated the Rockets 121–115 on November 28, 2023. Both teams finished the group stage 2–2, ending up in a three-way tie with the
Denver Nuggets for second place. Because the teams were tied on group head-to-head results, overall point differential was used as the tiebreaker; the Rockets placed second behind the group winner
New Orleans Pelicans, followed by the Mavericks and Nuggets. As part of the 2026
NBA China Games, the Dallas Mavericks and Houston Rockets are scheduled to play two preseason exhibition games on October 9 and 11 at the
Venetian Arena in
Macau. == Season-by-season results ==