In many ways, the Dallas Mavericks will celebrate their NBA Finals Championship on Christmas Day — the anticipated official opening day of the season.
 
The guest of honor at the American Airlines Center will be none other the Miami Heat, the team the Mavs beat to win the title last June. And they will raise the championship banner into the rafters.
 
The one celebratory thing that will be missing, however, is the handing out of the championship rings. According to ESPNDallas.com, Mavs owner Mark Cuban has yet to order the rings for the 2010-11 season because he wanted to get the input of Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd and Jason Terry on the design of the rings. Cuban, of course, couldn’t do that for the last five months because the NBA lockout prevented the owners from having any contact or interaction with the players.
 
"I think he is waiting for J-Kidd and Dirk and I to come up with something," Terry said Thursday, the first day players were allowed back into NBA arenas since the lockout began July 1.
 
The fact that Cuban will present rings at all seems a departure from what he suggested he might do last June after the Mavs dismantled LeBron James and the Heat during the NBA finals. Cuban, who has been anything but a traditional owner, said then that he wanted to step outside of the box on the commemorative jewelry.
 
"Rings are old school," Cuban said in June. "Rings are done. It's time to take it to the next level and do something different."
 
Contact Terrance Harris at terrancefharris@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @Terranceharris.

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