The Dallas Mavericks have tanked down the Western Conference standings since trading Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, while LA has surged up. Nico Harrison’s decision to trade Doncic has drawn the ire of most Mavericks fans, as well as its biggest icon, Dirk Nowitzki.
Nowitzki has started to be erased from the Mavericks, not being acknowledged by team governor Patrick Dumont as among the NBA’s hardest workers in recent history, and clearly not operating by the “Loyalty Never Fades Away” mantra that’s on his statue outside of the American Airlines Center.
Dirk Nowitzki recently appeared on a German podcast, 41 Campus, with his sister, Silke, and talked about a number of different topics about the Mavericks, including why Mark Cuban may deserve a little blame for the trade, even if he had no knowledge of it.
“I don’t think he has much influence anymore. He sold the majority of the Mavericks over a year ago—more than 50%. Now, he’s just a minority owner. I think he still owns a little under 30%, but I doubt he has any real decision-making power anymore. Right after the trade, he said that he had no idea it was happening. And I believe him. We all should. He was always Luka’s number-one fan. He even made a statement once that he would never trade Luka… So it would really surprise me if he had suddenly changed his mind. That’s why I truly believe he had no say in this decision. I think Nico [Harrison] and the new owner pulled this off without involving him at all—or anyone else, for that matter. Of course, that’s tough for Mark. But when you sell the majority of your team, you have to expect that you won’t have control anymore. That’s just how it works. And over the past year, you could already see the team heading in a different direction. Now we’re seeing the result of that.
Nowitzki isn’t saying that Cuban would’ve traded Doncic, but he is saying that Cuban should’ve expected things to happen that wouldn’t have happened if he was still owning the team.
Cuban was originally supposed to keep control over the player personnel when he sold the team, but that ended up not being the case. Now, he has no say with the team whatsoever. He spoke out a few weeks ago, saying he was upset that the Mavericks didn’t at least get more back for Doncic, but he wouldn’t speculate on if the deal would’ve been made if he still owned the team.
Nowitzki also said that he hasn’t been involved with the Mavericks for the last two years or so. Whether that was his choice or the team’s, it’s just further proof that the team doesn’t want to align with Nowitzki for whatever reason. That’s a mistake.
