Dirk Nowitzki got a chance to share his honest thoughts on Friday on the firing of Nico Harrison.
The Dallas Mavericks made the long-awaited move to relieve Harrison of his duties as the team’s general manager earlier this week. Nowitzki got a chance to say his piece on the matter during his Friday appearance on the “NBA on Prime” pregame show.
The Hall of Famer stated he felt the move should have been done much earlier and lamented the abrupt end of the Luka Doncic era in Dallas.
“I think there are just too many distractions, too much going on, to keep going this way,” Nowitzki said. “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 figured this Mavs fan base is a passionate and loyal fan base. I was lucky enough to experience it for 21 years. I knew they wouldn’t just get over it or forget about it. They’re extremely passionate. This trade just made no sense. It made no sense to them, and really, there was no explanation for them 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 could switch and guard for them. You had two lob threats with Gafford and Lively. … It was very sad, how that ended. The fans felt like they got robbed of actually seeing the end, seeing this through, seeing Luka develop into, hopefully, a champion one day. It feels like they never got to see the end to this.”
Nowitzki closed by saying that it’s time for the team and its fans to finally “move on” from the trade that “set the franchise back.” He urged fans to cheer on the team as it enters a new era.
Dirk was far from the only Mavericks icon who wanted Harrison out immediately. Former majority team owner Mark Cuban reportedly lobbied heavily to get Harrison fired over the past several months, and already has a replacement in mind.
Both Nowitzki and Cuban got their Christmas presents early when the firing was announced on Tuesday.
