Dirk Nowitzki Surprised Mavs Took This Long To Fire Nico Harrison: “This Luka Trade Made No Sense”

Dirk Nowitzki has always maintained that former GM Nico Harrison was taking decisions that hurt the Mavericks.

Dirk Nowitzki Surprised Mavs Took This Long To Fire Nico Harrison: “This Luka Trade Made No Sense”

Nico Harrison and Dirk Nowitzki (Image via FirstSportz)

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Dirk Nowitzki had a front row, but distant view of how Dallas Mavericks’ former GM Nico Harrison was working. From trading away Luka Doncic to being unable to bring in a quality playmaker, the German had been overall quiet about those decisions.

The soft-spoken former league MVP instead kept it simple and questioned why the franchise would give up on his protege despite leading them to the 2024 NBA Finals. Since then, he witnessed his former team huff and puff in between injuries and play poorly on the court. Now, as part of Amazon Prime’s studio analysis team, he finally decided to speak his mind.

I think there’s just too many distractions, too much going on, to keep going this way. This move should have probably happened this summer, honestly… I just knew, I figured this fanbase is passionate and loyal… They are extremely passionate, and this trade just made no sense.

Dirk Nowitzki said

The 47-year-old detailed how it was baffling for everyone that Nico Harrison would first build a team to complement Luka Doncic, and then throw it all away by trading away its core piece.

Dirk Nowitzki believes the former GM should have been fired before the 2025-26 season started. That way, the likes of Cooper Flagg and the others could have played without the added distractions.

The NBA champion had detailed on a previous episode that the Mavericks were a mess, and they could not do anything right. He hopes now that Harrison is gone, the team can focus on what they need to do to get better.

Nico Harrison had frozen Dirk Nowitzki out of Mavs

Dirk Nowitzki is not one to lash out at anyone, no matter how hard they go at him. It explains why he had not spoken up about the way Nico Harrison single-handedly crippled his former team.

Along with minority-owner Mark Cuban, the former GM also shut out the franchise’s greatest player as he went about establishing his control over matters. He systematically first ensured that the Germans’ training and other personnel staff were booted from the franchise. They were also catering to the franchise’s cornerstone Luka Doncic.

By doing so, he forced the Slovenian to accept whatever the team medical staff and trainers were saying. As a matter of fact, the two department heads were hired by Harrison. At the time, Doncic was blamed for his lack of conditioning, but later, the onus fell back onto the GM’s shoulders when several Mavericks players stayed pat on the injury report.

Eventually, Harrison fired his hires and felt the retooled roster and staff would bring change. That did not happen as a few Mavs players are still injured, and the team’s lack of playmaking has them 2nd from bottom in the West.

Minority-owner Mark Cuban back in decision-making role

Now that Nico Harrison is out of the Dallas Mavericks, it seems that Governor Patrick Dumont, the son-in-law of the principal owner, the Adelson family, will be the one to make decisions.

Patrick Dumont is again consulting Mark Cuban
Patrick Dumont is again consulting Mark Cuban (Image via MFFL Nation/X)

As for what’s next, I’m told that Mark Cuban, the Mavs’ minority owner who was exiled from basketball operations by Harrison, is back at the table. I’m also told that radical roster changes have already been discussed by Dallas’s new brain trust. Big changes could be coming to Big D.

Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix revealed

As per the Insider, the franchise is leaning on Mark Cuban to help make necessary changes to help it turn back towards competitiveness. This means he now has Dumont’s ear. That is a major departure from the time when Harrison did not seek input and rather just informed him of his decision to trade Luka Doncic. Cuban’s helping hand should ease the frustrations of fans.

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