Mavericks force Nowitzki into heartbreaking dilemma not even Cooper Flagg can fix

If the Dallas Mavericks had to be defined by one player, it would be Dirk Nowitzki.

Dirk Nowitzki was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks in 1998 but was shipped to Dallas on draft night. He would spend the entirety of his 21-year career in Dallas, leading the Mavericks to their first NBA Championship in 2011. Nowitzki's Mavs tenure lasted from the pre-Mark Cuban era to the Luka Doncic era. No other player has spent 21 years with one franchise, and Nowitzki's name will be etched into Mavs history forever.

Upon retiring, Nowitzki became the unofficial spokesperson for the Mavs organization. When former GM Donnie Nelson and coach Rick Carlisle left the organization in 2021, Nowitzki joined the Mavs' front office in an official capacity as a Special Advisor for the organization. He helped the Mavericks right the ship after losing two franchise legends and carried symbolic duties such as hand-delivering Luka Doncic's supermax extension to the Slovenian legend's home.

However, since the infamous Doncic trade, Nowitzki has been eerily quiet about the Mavericks. Despite his previous duties for the organization and his love for the city and franchise, Nowitzki has not publicly commented on the Mavericks winning the 2025 lottery and Cooper Flagg, and he has not been involved as he once was. This silence reveals a greater issue at play.

Nowitzki's silence emphasizes a growing gulf between him and Mavs

In the past, Nowizki has always been vocal about the Mavs' moves, and winning the right to select Flagg is a historical event that would have had him ecstatic a few years ago. Flagg has the chance to get the Mavs back on track and into the playoffs once again, but even Flagg's addition can fix Nowitzki's thoughts on the Mavericks.

Nowitzki's discontent with the Mavericks seemingly began with the controversial firing of Casey Smith, a former trainer. Mavs' GM Nico Harrison asked Smith to meet following Nowitzki's Hall of Fame induction. When Smith said he could not meet, Harrison fired Smith over a video call.

The reason Smith could not meet with Harrison in person was that Smith's mother was dying, and Smith opted to spend the last weeks of her life by her side rather than working. This incident was the first of Harrison's cold-blooded moves that alienated Nowitzki and other Mavs insiders.

Smith was considered to be Nowitzki's confidant within the organization. Firing someone so close to the Mavs' legend under such horrible circumstances was bound to create tension between the Mavs and Nowitzki.

Like in Smith's firing, Nowitzki was not consulted in another controversial move made by Harrison: trading Luka Doncic. Doncic and Nowitzki have many natural parallels as European players drafted from overseas to the Mavericks' organization, who ostensibly planned to be Mavericks for life.

Because of these parallels, Nowitzki was the perfect mentor for the young Doncic. While Nowitzki's limited role does not necessarily mean he should be consulted on every move, Harrison understood what he was doing when he made the decision to leave the franchise legend in the dark.

Nowitzki has no veto power over Harrison.

Harrison's choice not to tell Nowitzki was made to avoid a difficult conversation, which is inexcusable. Regardless of whether Harrison would have listened to Nowitzki's feedback, the Mavs' legend deserved to be informed. When paired with the Smith firing, it is understandable why Nowitzki does not associate with the current Mavericks' leadership.

But Nowitzki's estrangement underscores a much more serious issue. Nobody trusts the Mavericks' decision-making, including the franchise's biggest legend. Until Harrison and the rest of the organization can make amends with Nowitzki, the Mavs' organization will have a stain that is impossible to ignore.

The Mavericks need to apologize to Nowitzki to save face, and with this new era with Flagg beginning now, it needs to happen sooner rather than later.