Dallas Mavericks (1981–1992) Rolando Blackman was drafted by the Mavericks in the first round (9th overall) of the
1981 NBA draft. He became the first Panamanian-born player in the NBA. Blackman had an immediate impact on the team, averaging 13.3 PPG in his rookie season. He was given a good amount of minutes in his career, getting around 24 minutes per game in his rookie campaign. He played well but the Mavericks weren't good until the
1983–1984 season. That was also Blackman's best statistical season as he averaged a career high 22.4 PPG and lead the franchise to its first ever playoff appearance. The Mavericks managed to beat the
Seattle SuperSonics and reach the second round before ultimately losing to the
Los Angeles Lakers. On February 17, 1986, Blackman set the Mavericks single-game record for free throws made and attempted in a 22–23 performance. Despite putting up amazing stats, Blackman missed the all star game that year, although he did make it the following year. He would go on to be named an NBA All-Star four times in his career. At the
1987 All-Star Game, Blackman tied the game at the end of regulation with two free throws. The West team would go on to win in overtime. As for the Mavericks, they played well and even had a magical season in
1987–1988 where they managed to reach the Western Conference Finals. This appearance happened to be the franchise's first Conference Finals appearance in its history. The Mavericks made it far but fell to the Los Angeles Lakers in 7 games. After this series the Mavericks began to decline and wouldn't achieve the same amount of success until much later on in the
Dirk Nowitzki era. Blackman continued to play well and averaged around 19 PPG for the next few seasons, however the Mavericks fell off in the standings. By the
1991–1992 season, Blackman was 32 years old and the Mavericks entered a stage of rebuilding. By the 1992 off-season Blackman's time with the team was finished. Blackman made 6,487 field goals with the Mavericks and scored 16,643 points, which was a franchise record for 18 years – until broken by
Dirk Nowitzki on March 8, 2008. In his 865 games with the Mavericks, Blackman never fouled out of a game.
New York Knicks (1992–1994) On June 24, 1992, Blackman was traded to the
New York Knicks for a 1995 first-round pick (which became
Loren Meyer). Blackman spent his final two seasons in the NBA with the
New York Knicks. In his last season in New York, he was reunited with former Dallas teammate
Derek Harper. The team made it to the
NBA Finals where they lost to the
Houston Rockets in seven games. One of Blackman's most notable games as a Knick was when he hit the game winning shot in Game 4 of the 1993 Eastern Conference Semi-finals against the
Charlotte Hornets, hitting a jump shot with five seconds left in the game that put the Knicks up by two. Blackman still played well in the twilight years of his career, but his age was finally getting to him and his time in the NBA was over. On July 6, 1994, the Knicks waived Blackman.
Retirement from the NBA Shortly after being released, he retired from the league. Following the
1993–94 season, he had career totals of 17,623 points, 3,278 rebounds and 2,981 assists. Blackman was NBA's all-time scoring leader among Hispanic/Latin players (born in Iberian, Latin American & Spanish-speaking countries) until March 6, 2015, when Pau Gasol overtook him. Blackman's number 22 jersey was retired by the Mavericks on March 11, 2000.
Europe Blackman signed with the
Greek League team
AEK Athens BC in the middle of the 1994–95 season. Coached by
Vlade Đurović, they finished the season in a disappointing eight place. Over the summer of 1995, Blackman moved to
Olimpia Milano, where he was brought in by head coach
Bogdan Tanjević. Playing in the
Italian League on a team including
Dejan Bodiroga,
Gregor Fučka,
Nando Gentile, and Alessandro De Pol, Blackman, who turned 37 during the season, helped them win both the
Italian League title and the
Italian Basketball Cup by averaging 15.3 points per game. Blackman was named MVP of the Italian Cup series. Olimpia also reached the
Korać Cup final, losing to
Efes Pilsen Istanbul in the home-and-away series. Blackman transferred to
Limoges CSP in the summer of 1996, essentially brought along by coach Tanjević who earlier signed to be the club's new head coach. ==Post-playing career==