Dallas Basketball

Dirk Nowitzki breaks silence, bashes Nico Harrison after Mavericks fire GM

When Dirk Nowitzki is this outwardly negative toward someone, you know you messed up.
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
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

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The Dallas Mavericks finally relieved Nico Harrison of his general manager duties on Tuesday, a move that was nine months in the making. Franchise icon Dirk Nowitzki has always spoken louder with his actions rather than his words, and his actions spoke loudly when he attended Luka Doncic's first game as a Laker last year and this season.

Nowitzki is now working for the Amazon Prime studio show, and he spoke a lot about the Mavs' decision to fire Nico, and it's safe to say that he was not a fan of the now former general manager.

"Well, I think there's just too many distractions, too much going on to keep going this way," Nowitzki started. "This move should have probably happened this summer, honestly. I didn't want this negative energy and this black cloud over the Cooper Flagg era, but here we are now.

"I just knew. I figured this fan base is a passionate and loyal fan base. I was lucky enough to experience it for 21 years. And I knew they weren't [going to] just get over it, as people say, or forget about it. They're extremely passionate.

"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 Finals the year before. You gave up all these assets to build, really, the team around Luka [Doncic] 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 him. You added Klay [Thompson], which, the shooting was a little bit of an issue in the Finals against Boston. So you did all this. ... Going into 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 a hopefully a champion one day, and it feels like they never got to see the end to this. So this was very heartbreaking."

READ MORE: Mark Cuban reveals reason for Mavericks firing Nico Harrison; it's not Luka Doncic

Mavericks Plan To Try and Bring Dirk Nowitzki Back

Whether Nico Harrison pushed Nowitzki away from the franchise, or if Nowitzki saw the writing on the wall after Harrison fired athletic trainer Casey Smith, a good friend of Nowitzki's, while he was at home tending to his ailing mother, and then the Doncic trade was the last straw, we probably will never know.

Nowitzki still loves the Mavs, but it would do the franchise a lot of good to get Nowitzki involved in some capacity again.

Marc Stein reported earlier in the week that they will attempt to bring him back, whether formally or informally. Nowitzki's spot with Amazon doesn't take up the whole week, so even if they can bring him on as a fake advisor role, that'd be huge.

READ MORE: Cooper Flagg battling nagging injuries, should Mavericks fans be concerned?

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Austin Veazey
AUSTIN VEAZEY

Austin Veazey joined NoleGameday as the Lead Basketball Writer in 2019, while contributing as a football writer, and started as editor for MavericksGameday in 2024. Veazey was a Florida State Men’s Basketball Manager from 2016-2019. Follow Austin on Twitter at @EasyVeazeyNG

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