Editor's note: This story, "Meet new Mavericks star Nerlens Noel and his incredible mom" was originally published on March 13, 2017.
When Nerlens Noel's mother, Dorcina, heard her son might get traded from Philadelphia to the Mavericks, she prayed that the rumor would become reality.
It had nothing to do with the fact that in 1992, two years after she immigrated to Massachusetts from Haiti, Dorcina named her second child Rodman, after her favorite basketball player and Dallas product Dennis.
Mostly, Dorcina was prayerful because Nerlens, 22, needed a fresh NBA start and because, from afar, Dallas always seemed to Dorcina like a dynamic city that exuded opportunity.