“I think there’s just too many distractions, too much going on to keep going this way. This move should have probably happened this summer, honestly,” Nowitzki said on “NBA on Prime” on Friday. “I didn’t want this negative energy and this black cloud over the Cooper Flagg era, but here we are now. I just knew, I figured this fan base is a passionate and loyal fan base — I was lucky enough to experience it for 21 years — and I knew they weren’t just [going] to get over it, as people say, or forget about it.”
Harrison’s trade of superstar Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers in February was controversial, to say the least. Fans have strongly protested the general manager ever since with “fire Nico” chants becoming a regular occurrence at American Airlines Center, much to the chagrin of some Mavs.
“This trade just made no sense,” Nowitzki said. “It made no sense to [the fans], and really there was no explanation for it, either. You go 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 can switch and guard for him. You had two lob threats with [Daniel] Gafford and [Dereck] Lively, and the team was built around [Dončić].
“You added Klay [Thompson], which the shooting was a little bit of an issue in the Finals against Boston. You did all this, they started the following season well. Going into Christmas Day game they were 14-3 out of the last 17 games, so they’re just starting to hit their stride, and then Luka gets hurt and unfortunately that's the last game he’s ever played in a Mavs uniform.
“It was very sad. It was very sad how that ended, and it felt like the fans feel like they got robbed of actually seeing the end, seeing this through, seeing Luka develop into hopefully a champion one day. ... Very heartbreaking, but now I think it’s time to move on. It’s time to move on now, focus on this team, on this franchise. This definitely set the franchise back.”
Nowitzki’s words echo those of Mavs coach Jason Kidd, who said it was time to move on heading into the team’s first post-Harrison game, against the Phoenix Suns, and support the team on the floor.
Game schedule dates, times, locations
NEXT UP: Game dates, times, locations, channel
Rangers ▶
May 8 Chicago Cubs 7, Rangers 1
May 9 Rangers 6, Chicago Cubs 0
May 10 Rangers 3, Chicago Cubs 0
May 11 Arizona 1, Rangers 0
May 12 Rangers 7, Arizona 4
May 13 vs. Arizona, 7:05 p.m., RSN
May 15 at Houston, 7:10 p.m., CW
May 16 at Houston, 6:10 p.m., RSN
May 17 at Houston, 1:10 p.m., RSN
May 18 at Colorado, 7:40 p.m., RSN
May 19 at Colorado, 7:40 p.m., RSN
May 20 at Colorado, 2:10 p.m., RSN
TCU Baseball ▶
May 1 Oklahoma State 7, TCU 6
May 2 Oklahoma State 9, TCU 2
May 3 Oklahoma State 11, TCU 10
May 8 TCU 3, Utah 0
May 9 TCU 3, Utah 1
May 10 TCU 4, Utah 3
May 14 at West Virginia, 5:30 p.m., ESPN+
May 15 at West Virginia, 5:30 p.m., ESPN+
May 16 at West Virginia, noon, ESPN+
May 19-23 Big 12 tournament (at Surprise, Ariz.)
Wings▶
May 9 Wings 107, Indiana 104
May 12 Atlanta 77, Wings 72
May 14 vs. Minnesota, 7 p.m., Amazon Prime Video
May 18 vs. Washington, 7 p.m., KFAA, Peacock
May 20 at Chicago, 8 p.m., KFAA, USA
May 22 at Atlanta, 6:30 p.m., Ion
May 24 at New York, 2:30 p.m., NBC, Peacock
TCU Football ▶
2026 season
Aug. 29 vs. North Carolina (at Dublin), 11 a.m., ESPN
Sept. 12 vs. Grambling State, TBA
Sept. 19 vs. Arkansas State, TBA
Sept. 26 at Central Florida, TBA
Oct. 3 vs. BYU, TBA
Oct. 17 at Baylor, TBA
Oct. 24 vs. West Virginia, TBA
Oct. 31 vs. Kansas, TBA
Nov. 6 at Arizona, TBA
Nov. 14 vs. Kansas State, TBA
Nov. 21 vs. Utah, TBA
Nov. 26 at Texas Tech, 7 p.m., ESPN
Cowboys ▶
2026 season
Sept. 13 at N.Y. Giants, 7:20 p.m., NBC
Sept. 27 vs. Baltimore (at Rio de Janeiro), 3:25 p.m., CBS
Nov. 26 vs. Philadelphia, 3:30 p.m., Fox
Other 2026 opponents (dates and times TBA)
vs. N.Y Giants
vs. Washington
vs. Arizona
vs. San Francisco
vs. Tampa Bay
vs. Jacksonville
vs. Tennessee
at Philadelphia
at Washington
at L.A. Rams
at Seattle
at Green Bay
at Houston
at Indianapolis
FC Dallas ▶
April 18 FC Dallas 2, LA Galaxy 2
April 22 Minnesota 1, FC Dallas 0
April 25 Seattle 2, FC Dallas 1
May 2 FC Dallas 2, NY Red Bulls 0
May 9 FC Dallas 3, Salt Lake 1
May 13 vs. Vancouver, 7:30 p.m., Apple TV
May 16 at San Jose, 9:30 p.m., Apple TV
May 23 at Colorado, 8:30 p.m., Apple TV
World Cup break
Texas Motor Speedway ▶
May 15-16 LS Fest
May 23 Bandas y Trocas
May 30 Urban Racing
This story was originally published November 14, 2025 at 9:27 PM.
Lawrence Dow is a digital sports reporter from Philadelphia. He graduated with a master’s degree in journalism from USC. He’s passionate about movies and is always looking for a great book. He covers the Texas Rangers and other sports.
