NBA Insider Says Dirk Nowitzki Is Reportedly 'Completely Turned off' by Mavericks

The vibes couldn't be much worse in Dallas these days.

The fans are still incensed at general manager Nico Harrison and governor Patrick Dumont for trading Luka Dončić (and a recent closed-door, invite-only press conference didn't do much in the way of damage control). Kyrie Irving is recovering from a torn ACL. Anthony Davis—the main piece the Mavericks got back in the Dončić deal—failed to lead the Mavericks past the Play-In Tournament.

And now, team legend Dirk Nowitzki may be disgruntled with the organization as well.

"First of all, Dirk is completely turned off by this franchise," ESPN's Tim MacMahon said on The Hoop Collective podcast Wednesday (h/t Jenna Lemoncelli of the New York Post). "... I asked [Harrison], 'Hey, why not seek Dirk's input? Why not seek [Mark] Cuban's input? He basically said, 'If they're not in the building, they don't know what's going on.' Stay tuned for the reason Dirk's not in the building and the reason Cuban's not in the building. Because Nico made sure he got his butt kicked out of basketball operations once that trade went through."

Nowitzki, who spent the entirety of his Hall of Fame career with the Mavericks, has been a fairly regular fixture for the team as something of an ambassador since his retirement. That was during Cuban's years as the majority governor, however, a role he relinquished when he sold much of his stake in the team to the Adelson family back in December 2023 for $3.5 billion (Cuban still owns 27 percent of the organization).

There's little doubt that Dončić never would have been traded under Cuban's watch, and likewise, Nowitzki would have never become estranged from the organization.

These are dark days for the Mavericks. The Dumont-Harrison pair has quickly burnt through a lot of goodwill.