The Dallas Mavericks should have fired Nico Harrison months before team officials made that move several days ago.
So says Dirk Nowitzki, the greatest player in Mavericks history.
Appearing as a studio analyst on Prime Video’s NBA pregame show Friday night, Nowitzki was asked by host Taylor Rooks why the team fired Harrison on Tuesday, nine months after Harrison’s trade of Luka Dončić in early February.
“Well, I think there’s just too many distractions, too much going on to have to keep going this way,” Nowitzki answered. “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, you know, 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 them, and really, there was no explanation for it, either. You go to the Finals the year before, you give up all these assets to build, really, the team around Luka, with some 6-9 wings that all can switch and guard for him. 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.”
“It’s time to move on now.”
Dirk Nowitzki on the Mavs firing GM Nico Harrison. pic.twitter.com/8J9MvksVdm
— NBA on Prime (@NBAonPrime) November 14, 2025
The Mavericks entered Friday with a 3-9 record. Big man Anthony Davis, the marquee player Harrison received from the Los Angeles Lakers in the Dončić trade, will miss his eighth consecutive game because of a left calf strain. Point guard Kyrie Irving continues to rehab his left knee following ACL surgery.
If anyone knows Mavericks fans, it’s Nowitzki. He played his entire NBA career in Dallas, debuting during the 1998-99 season and retiring at the end of the 2018-19 season at 40 years old. He owns the Mavericks’ regular-season career records for games played (1,522), total points (31,560), total rebounds (11,489) and blocks (1,281). Even more important: He led the 2010-11 Mavericks to the franchise’s first, and only, NBA title.
Nowitzki and Dončić were teammates during the 2018-19 season, Dončić’s first and Nowitzki’s last. The two of them developed a close relationship starting then.
In February, Nowitzki attended Dončić’s Lakers debut in Los Angeles.
“I’ll never be a Lakers fan, but I’ll always be a Luka fan,” Nowitzki said in a podcast appearance at the time.
Nowitzki also made the point Friday that the Mavericks were rolling last season before Dončić suffered a left calf strain on Dec. 25. They had a 19-10 record and were ranked No. 4 in offense and No. 11 in defense, indicators that suggested they could again contend for a championship.
“They started the following season well,” Nowitzki said on the broadcast. “Going into the Christmas Day game (last season), they were 14-3 out of their last 17 games, so they just started 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 the fans felt like they got robbed of actually seeing the end, seeing this through, seeing Luka develop into hopefully a champion one day, and it feels like they never got to see the end to this. So this was very heartbreaking.
“But now, I think it’s time to move on. It’s time to move on now, focus on this team, on this franchise. This definitely set the franchise back. But now it’s about building it back up. Obviously, this team is struggling a bit. It needs the support, all it can get. Hopefully, we can have a good year here from now on and cheer the team up.”
