The Dallas Mavericks awarded a five-year, $20 million contract to coach Avery Johnson, locking up one of the NBA’s most successful young coaches in Dallas until 2011. Johnson has coached only one full season and one partial in the NBA since last year. But during this short span of time, the Mavericks reached the NBA Finals for the first time, losing only to the Miami Heat in six games. In fact, Johnson managed to lead Dallas to a 60-22 record last season after managing the last 18 games in 2005 when Don Nelson decided to quit.

The newly signed contract will make Johnson the latest Mavericks signing to sign a long-term deal with owner Mark Cuban during the offseason. In fact, before him, Dirk Nowitzki also signed an extension that will also keep him in Dallas through 2011.

The 41-year-old Johnson still had three years left on his previous contract, which averaged $2.5 million a season. But talks with owner Cuban about a more lucrative deal had been ongoing since the Mavericks were knocked out of the Finals. There were even rumors about Johnson’s long-term future with the Mavericks when he entered training camp without a new contract. But the rumors ended with the public announcement of the signing of the multi-year contract. Both Cuban and Johnson announced their mutual pleasure in working together and emphasized the Mavericks’ great potential. Mavericks players were also pleased with the announcement.

As a player, Johnson also won an NBA championship with the San Antonio Spurs in 1999. He began his coaching career as an assistant for the Mavericks after retiring as a player in 2004. Although he is a young coach, his recent record of 76-24 in regular season games with the Mavericks is almost unprecedented. The only coach to win as many games as Johnson in his first 100 NBA games was Paul Westphal (77-23 with the Suns in 1992-1993). Bill Russell held the record for 26 years prior to Westphal going 74-26 in regular season games.