After Hall of Fame forward Dirk Nowitzki attended the jersey retirement ceremony of Dallas Mavericks' Mark Aguirre, many wonder if his relationship with the front office has improved since last season's blockbuster Luka Doncic trade.
It felt as if Nowitzki spoke for every diehard Mavericks fan in Dallas when he called out the organization for last year's Doncic trade on national television, as NBA insider Marc Stein noted.
“You'll recall in November that Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki, speaking on the NBA on Prime pregame show, said that the Luka trade and its months of fallout did “definitely set the franchise back.” This is probably a good time to rewatch the entire two-plus minutes of Nowitzki's analysis,” Stein wrote. “He sums it up very well and in more concise fashion than the verbose sportswriter.”
Still, in the wake of former GM Nico Harrison's firing, the Mavericks' front office is eager to bring Nowitzki back to the organization in some capacity, a role that's entirely up to Dirk, according to Stein.
“You just saw No. 41 at the Mark Aguirre Jersey Retirement ceremony earlier this week and, to my knowledge, he and Mavericks majority owner Patrick Dumont have had an open dialogue since the spring … months before Harrison's firing,” Stein added. “The Mavericks badly want Nowitzki to return to the organization and have conveyed to him that he can do so in any role he chooses.
“But the 47-year-old has focused this season on his new job as a studio analyst for Amazon as well as his various duties and travel obligations as a FIBA board member and global ambassador for the sport's international governing body,” Stein concludes.
Mavericks owner trying to bring Dirk Nowitzki back
Mavericks owner Patrick Dumont wants Dirk Nowitzki to return to the organization he led to its first and only championship in 2011. While Nowitzki hasn't avoided the Mavericks altogether, attending various games, including this season, the Mavs would love to bring him in closer, according to Tim MacMahon, he said, per ESPN's Howdy Partners.
“His presence and his willingness to be shown on the jumbotron, his son Max wearing a Cooper Flagg jersey, that was an indication of Dirk kind of starting to accept an olive branch from Patrick Dumont, because the relationship between Dirk and the franchise had completely frayed,” said MacMahon.
The tension between Nowitzki and the Mavericks developed over the years but intensified after Harrison took control of basketball operations. Harrison's decision to fire longtime director of health and performance trainer Casey Smith was one of the breaking points. It was a move Nowitzki strongly opposed. The Mavericks' trade of Luka Doncic to the Lakers made things worse.
“The Luka trade was the absolute last straw, but it had frayed before then, going back to when Nico Harrison fired Casey Smith, and Dirk was not gonna be any part of this franchise as long as Nico Harrison was running basketball operations. Obviously, he's not anymore. Patrick Dumont has reached out in an effort to begin repairing that relationship, and I think that Dirk is open-minded in terms of being a part of the franchise moving forward, potentially,” MacMahon added.
The Mavericks are 19-30 this season.
