Mark Cuban Reveals Mavericks Legend Dirk Nowitzki's True Feelings About Nico Harrison

It's safe to say that Dirk Nowitzki was proven right about his feelings about Nico Harrison.

May 15, 2022; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban (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-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Nico Harrison is going to go down as one of the worst and most hated executives in professional sports history for what he did to the Dallas Mavericks. Trading Luka Doncic less than a year after making the NBA Finals was a stake right through the heart of the fanbase.

Mark Cuban has been loud recently about the state of the Mavericks. He may no longer be the majority owner of the team, but he does still own about a 27% stake (which can be reduced to 7% in the next few years), so it's been strange how negatively he's spoken about them. He has said everything from regretting who he sold the team to to regretting hiring Nico Harrison to begin with, and everything in between.

Cuban's latest spiel was admitting that Dirk Nowitzki, the greatest player in franchise history, didn't even like hiring Nico Harrison in the first place.

"Dirk didn't agree with everything that was going on. He didn’t agree with the Nico hiring," Cuban said. "I don’t know if I’ve said that publicly before. I explained to him that I needed somebody who had relationships with players already... We hadn't had all that much success on luring top-notch free agent targets, and Nico worked with those people closely. Like when he made the [Anthony Davis] trade, he knew him from the time he was 13. Dirk was like, 'Yeah, I don't know if that's the way to go.' To his credit, he called it.”

May 19, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Former NBA player Dirk Nowitzki watches the game between the Dallas Wings and the Seattle Storm during the first half at College Park Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Mark Cuban Should've Listened to Dirk Nowitzki

Cuban's hiring of Nico Harrison was severely flawed. Cuban brought in a group to search for the new GM, then completely ignored everything they said to hire Nico Harrison. While you can see Cuban's logic, Harrison had never been an NBA executive before, only assisting NBA players through Nike during his time there.

Dirk Nowitzki was also a Nike athlete at one point in time and likely dealt with Harrison on a few occasions. If he didn't want Harrison, Cuban should've listened.

Harrison ended up pushing Nowitzki away from the franchise with insane decisions, such as firing beloved and well-renowned trainer Casey Smith while he was tending to his ailing mother because he had too much of a say in the organization. Nowitzki, who was supposed to be a special advisor, ended up not being around the organization as much, and the Mavericks are hoping to get him back in the fold somehow.

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