The Mavericks have not moved on from Dirk Nowitzki. But he’s passively moved on. The Dunking Deutschman remains a Dallas resident, participates in the local community, and supports his team. However, a regular presence in the team he is not. Nowitzki is turning his focus to Los Angeles. No, not Luka Doncic. No rift with the Mavs as the rumors made it out to be either. He’s just shifting gears to his new career as a sportscaster. Yet he’s got a thin thread of connection with the Mavs.
The 2025-26 NBA season will bring new things (along with some old nostalgia via NBC). With Amazon Prime in the new media landscape, the shift to streaming is going to be a huge adjustment not only for fans, but also the former players now in this new dynamic. Nowitzki is excited for it, even though it will take some spare time away the Mavs.
While sitting down with the Dallas-based WFAA, Nowitzki was reminded of the “nebulous” role Mark Cuban offered him when he retired in 2019. Nowitzki was the ‘special advisor’ to the team and actively fulfiled that role in 2021. He however, took a step back from it in the past two years.
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“Yeah, I really haven’t been around on a day-to-day basis the last two years, so I think nothing will change for me on the Mavs front.” Nowitzki previously mentioned that he attended his first training camp as an advisor, made notes, and passed it along to the staff. While it was nothing the staff did, Dirk just realized he wasn’t cut out for this kind of role.
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He will however, offer his veteran guidance should they need it as long as it doesn’t clash with his new obligation. “I’ll be obviously a phone call away if ever needed, but of course I’m gonna concentrate on the Amazon Prime gig, looking forward to that.”
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Nowitzki will return to a life of traveling for NBA games and being more involved in the sport in real time, instead of lending expertise in an undefined front office-like role (the special advisor duties were never specified like Udonis Haslem’s player development role at Miami Heat). He has the added advantage of being able to spend more time with his family while still enjoying a scaled down NBA lifestyle.
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He’s given the Mavs open season on the Bat Signal (or Dirk Signal if you will). But they just moved a little lower in Dirk’s list of priorities.
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Dirk Nowitzki’s new job comes before the Mavericks
Dallas is Dirk Nowitzki’s home and that won’t change. It’s only the Mavericks he’s putting on the backseat so he can look ahead to his new career.
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He is one of the headliners of Prime’s new NBA media with Blake Griffin, Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem. While D-Wade and Griffin already reside in LA, Dirk and UD are going travel to there at least once a week to record the live broadcast. It’s obviously going to consume a lot of Dirk’s time.
“You know, gotta go to LA almost once a week, almost the entire season,” he told WFAA. “I’m looking forward to following the, you know, I’ve watched obviously some Mavs games the last few years, but I haven’t really followed that league that closely, so it’s time to really get back in the mix again, watch more games, and really get immersed again in the whole NBA life. So, looking forward to it.”
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Of course, the Mavs aren’t totally in the rearview. When he said he’s a phonecall away, it was quite literal. Dirk Nowitzki revealed he’s had a few text exchanges with Cooper Flagg and offered helpful advice to him. This kind of connection to the team seems a better fit for the franchise legend than creating a role for him.
The vague distance created a publicity nightmare for the Mavs after the recent Luka Doncic trade. Nowitzki had a close connection with Doncic and even supported him by attended Lakers games. A narrative spun that Dirk is distancing himself from the team because of Nico Harrison’s decisions. However, he admitted he had stepped back from the team a long time ago while navigating the post-NBA emptiness and he wasn’t watching that much of the NBA either, let alone Mavs games.