The Dallas Mavericks are undergoing significant changes in their health and performance department for the third consecutive offseason, following a challenging season marked by injuries. General manager Nico Harrison has terminated head athletic trainer Dionne Calhoun and athletic performance director Keith Belton among other staff members. Calhoun, who had been with the team for 21 seasons, was part of a previous regime that included the fired Casey Smith. Tensions reportedly arose between Belton and Johann Bilsborough, the current director of health and performance, leading to verbal confrontations.
Calhoun spent 21 seasons in Dallas and was promoted to the head athletic trainer role in 2019. He was one of the final holdovers from the staff of former Mavs director of health and performance Casey Smith, who was fired in August 2023 and hired by the New York Knicks as the vice president of sports medicine last summer.
Sources told ESPN that there was significant tension between Belton and first-year director of health and performance Johann Bilsborough, who remains employed by the Mavericks.
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