When Dirk Nowitzki speaks about the Dallas Mavericks, his voice is heard. The franchise legend and Hall of Famer had a lot to say Friday night at the desk of “NBA on Prime” after he was asked about the firing of much-maligned Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison.
Nowitzki went on for more than two minutes, calling out Harrison’s shocking trade of Luka Dončić, which Nowitzki said “made no sense” and “definitely set the franchise back” while also explaining how the timing of Harrison’s dismissal is unfortunate because of “this black cloud” that now hovers over the Mavericks at the beginning of 2025 No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg’s NBA career.
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“This move should have probably happened this summer, honestly,” said Nowitzki, who won a championship and NBA Finals MVP with the Mavericks in 2011.
“I didn’t want this negative energy and this black cloud over the Cooper Flagg era, but here we are now.”
At the time of Harrison’s head-scratching February deal that sent a then-25-year-old Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers, Nowitzki was working for the Mavericks in an ambassador and advisor capacity. Even so, Nowitzki accepted an invitation from Dončić, his former teammate and fellow international icon, to attend the five-time All-NBA first teamer’s first game in Los Angeles.
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While Dončić started a new chapter in purple and gold, the Mavs were more blue than ever. Harrison’s crown jewel of the trade, 10-time All-Star big man Anthony Davis, immediately suffered an adductor strain related to the abdominal injury he hurried back from, costing him six weeks right from the jump. Then nine-time All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving tore his ACL. The injury-riddled Mavericks made the play-in tournament but not the playoffs, and the resentment toward Harrison only grew.
Nowitzki said Friday he wasn’t surprised Dallas didn’t “just get over it.”
“I just knew,” he said. “I figured this fan base is a passionate and loyal fan base. I was lucky enough to experience it for 21 years. … They’re extremely passionate.”
Nowitzki continued: “And this trade just made no sense. It made no sense to [the fans]. And, really, there was no explanation for it, either. You go to the [NBA] Finals the year before. You gave up all these assets to build, really, the team around Luka with some 6-9 wings that all can switch and guard. You had two lob threats with [Daniel] Gafford and [Dereck] Lively, and the team was built around [Luka]. You added Klay [Thompson when] the shooting was a little bit of an issue in the Finals against Boston. So you did all this. … Going into [the] Christmas Day game, they were 14-3 out of the last 17 games, so they’re just starting to hit their stride, and then Luka gets hurt. And unfortunately that’s the last game he’s ever played in a Mavs uniform.
“It was very sad. It was very sad how that ended, and it felt like … the fans feel like they got robbed of actually seeing the end, seeing this through, seeing Luka develop into hopefully a champion one day. And it feels like they never got to see the end to this. So this was very heartbreaking.”
Right up until Harrison was fired Tuesday, “Fire Nico!” chants echoed throughout the American Airlines Center at Mavericks home games.
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Head coach Jason Kidd said before Wednesday’s game, the now-3-9 Mavs’ first at home since Harrison was canned, that those chants made his players feel “really disrespected.”
Kidd acknowledged the fans’ healing process yet emphasized it was time to turn the page. Nowitzki agrees.
“Now I think it’s time to move on,” he said Friday on “NBA on Prime.”
“It’s time to move on now, focus on this team, on this franchise. This definitely set the franchise back. But now it’s about building it back up, and obviously this team is struggling a bit. It needs the support, all it can get. So hopefully we can have a good year here from now on and cheer the team up.”
