By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Hall of Fame former Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki shared his thoughts on the team’s decision to part ways with general manager Nico Harrison.
The move comes after Harrison’s trade last February, which sent Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis, and a subsequent rough start to the 2025/26 season, during which fans frequently chanted “Nico, out” at home games.
“Well, 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 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,” Nowitzki said during NBA on Prime pregame show.
He also questioned the logic of the trade, noting that the roster had been built around Dončić and never fit well with Davis.
“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 [NBA] Finals the year before. You gave up all these assets to build, really, the team around Luka with some 6-foot-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 when] the shooting was a little bit of an issue in the Finals against Boston. So you did all this.”
Meanwhile, Dončić is off to an MVP-caliber start to the 2025/26 season with the Lakers, averaging 33.7 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 9.2 assists per game.