'Trade made no sense': Nowitzki on Nico firing

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Injured Australian Boomers wing Dante Exum has watched from the sidelines this season as his Dallas Mavericks have stumbled to a 3-10 record to start the 2025-26 NBA season.

Dallas' "passionate" fans are still reeling from the trade at sent All-NBA superstar Luka Doncic to the Lakers for Anthony Davis, All-NBA guard Kyrie Irving is out for most of the season with an ACL injury, Davis is injured, No1 Draft pick Cooper Flagg played point guard early in the season ... and the Mavericks just fired GM Nico Harrison, who  fans aggressively turned on at home games.

Superstar Dirk Nowitzki, who played all 21 seasons of his NBA championship and All-NBA career in Dallas, spoke emotionally yesterday about the need for the franchise to rebuild itself post Luka and, now Harrison.

"There were just too many distractions, too much going on to keep going this way," Nowitzki said.

"This move probably should have happened this summer. I didn’t want this negative energy and this black cloud over the Cooper flag era, but here we are.

"This fanbase is a passionate and loyal fanbase. I was lucky enough to experience it for 21 years. I knew they weren’t just going to get over it or forget about it. They’re extremely passionate. This trade made no sense to them, and really there was no explanation for it.

"You go to the Finals the year before. You gave up all these assets to build the team around Luka with some 6’9” wings that could switch and guard. You had two lob threats with Gafford and Lively, and the team was built around them. You added Klay (Thompson), because shooting was a bit of an issue in the Finals against Boston.

"They started the following season well. Going into the Christmas Day game they were 14–3 in their last 17 games. They were just starting to hit their stride. Then Luka gets hurt, and unfortunately that’s the last game he ever played in a Mavs uniform.

"It was very sad how that ended. The fans feel like they got robbed of seeing the end, seeing this through, seeing Luka develop into hopefully a champion one day. They never got to see the end of this.

"So it was very heartbreaking. But now it’s time to move on. It’s time to focus on this team and this franchise. This definitely set the franchise back, but now it’s about building it back up. This team is struggling a bit and needs all the support it can get. Hopefully we can have a good year from here on out and cheer the team up."

There is no timetable for the return of Exum, nor Davis. Davis is now being talked about as a potential trade target for the Chicago Bulls.

To make matters even tougher for Mavs fans, Doncic trimmed down in the off-season and is playing at an All-NBA level for the Lakers.

Doncic, 26, has created instant chemistry with Austin Reaves. He's averaging 33.7 points, 8.9 rebounds and 9.2 assists, leading the Lakers to 9-4 and first in the Pacific Division without injured superstar LeBron James.

Meanwhile, Davis has played just 16 games out of the more than 40 he's been at the Mavericks.