Dirk Nowitzki's Reasons For Pulling Back From Mavericks Make Perfect Sense

Dirk Nowitzki has been in the media a lot for the last week as he gets ready for his annual charity tennis event, which naturally has him talking a lot about his former team, the Dallas Mavericks.

Nowitzki is nowhere near as involved with the franchise as he used to be or even wants to be. He admitted as such on an appearance with Marc Stein on DLLS Mavs last week.

"Well, you know, everybody knows that I pulled back there for a while," he admitted. There were some things done that I didn’t agree with, and I kind of just pulled back from the franchise."

While he doesn't go into detail on what those reasons were, they have been well documented over the years.

It seems like Nowitzki already didn't have the best relationship with former general manager Nico Harrison.

That relationship quickly deteriorated when Harrison pushed former head athletic trainer Casey Smith out the door. Smith was a prominent figure within the Mavericks and someone a lot of players trusted. However, Harrison thought Smith had too big of say in the day-to-day operations of the organization and let him go while Smith was tending to his ailing mother back in Ohio.

Naturally, that didn't sit well with a lot of people, including Nowitzki. Smith has since taken charge of the medical team for the New York Knicks, and it's not surprising that the Knicks were able to win a championship this year, with Smith keeping everyone healthy.

Mark Cuban selling the team in late 2023 likely didn't help matters, either, as Nowitzki no longer had a close connection with the upper management.

May 15, 2022; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Dallas Mavericks oguard Luka Doncic (right) with former player Dirk Nowitzki against the Phoenix Suns in game seven of the second round for the 2022 NBA playoffs at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

The biggest mistake came from trading away Luka Doncic in the middle of the night without warning. Nowitzki's final year with the franchise happened to Doncic's rookie year, and the two became close.

Nowitzki made his thoughts on the trade quite clear when he was in Los Angeles for Doncic's first game as a Laker.

Once Harrison was fired, Nowitzki said that it should've happened sooner, something he normally wouldn't have said, but the fanbase was irate, and so was he.

Now that Harrison is gone, Masai Ujiri has taken over as the team president, and he and Nowitzki have a much better relationship. Nowitzki revealed that they've had some early conversations about getting back in the fold, but that it's still probably a ways away.

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