The Dallas Mavericks took another huge step forward in moving on from the Luka Doncic trade this week by shipping out Anthony Davis and looking toward the future.
The greatest player in the history of their franchise seems to agree with their line of thinking.
Dirk Nowitzki, while on the job Saturday for Prime TV in his studio analyst role, discussed the Mavericks’ trade of Davis from the perspective of a fan hoping to move forward and embrace the future of the franchise around rookie Cooper Flagg.
Related
Mavericks
“I’ll tell you one thing, I think Mavs fans are happy with this,” Nowitzki said on Saturday. “I think they didn’t want to be reminded of what happened a year ago in the Luka trade. So to me, looking at this deal at first glance there’s not a lot that came back, picks or player-wise. This is all really about financial flexibility for the future.”
The Mavericks have, of course, dismissed the primary architect of last season’s Doncic deal, as they fired Nico Harrison in early November. Ultimately, though, it sounds like Nowitzki agrees that the time was right to pull the plug on the Davis experiment as well and instead “go young.”
“I’m a little disappointed, I think when AD actually played with Cooper, they played off each other really, really well,” Nowitzki admitted. “But we’ll never know. What this ultimately is now is build around Cooper, go young. See what the next year brings with the draft this summer. Ultimately now, they’re all in on Cooper Flagg and his future.”
Dirk might’ve even thrown a bit of a not-so-subtle dig at Harrison, as after some teasing from his co-hosts Steve Nash and Blake Griffin about the Mavericks landing Flagg on a 1.8% chance, Nowitzki replied: “That was the vision.”
Watch the clips below.
Dirk Nowitzki on the Mavs trading Anthony Davis
“There’s not a lot that came back with picks or player wise. I’m a little disappointed. I think (AD & Cooper) was a solid combo but we’ll never know”
(h/t @ohnohedidnt24)
pic.twitter.com/oYjxPUdNDu
— Fullcourtpass (@Fullcourtpass) February 7, 2026
Who is Marvin Bagley III? 5 things to know about Mavs’ big man acquired in Anthony Davis trade
Bagley already made Mavericks history in his first game with Dallas after being acquired from the Wizards.
Mavericks thumped by Spurs, again, but Marvin Bagley III makes franchise history in debut
The Mavs, attempting to integrate three new players into their lineup, lacked continuity in their seventh straight loss.