Dallas Mavericks need to set Dirk Nowitzki free
After being spurned by DeAndre Jordan, trading Dirk Nowitzki is the right thing for the Dallas Mavericks to do.
Next: NBA: 2000s All-Decade First Team
How signing free agent DeAndre Jordan would have affected the Dallas Mavericks is somewhat of a divisive question. Some will tell you he would have propelled them into the NBA Playoffs while others will tell you that he wouldn’t have moved the needle that much in comparison to what Tyson Chandler did for them last season. What is undeniable is now that Jordan has left the Mavs in the cold to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers, Dallas is in a much worse position.
No Jordan for the Mavericks leaves them without a legitimate first option at center and a less than ideal situation at point guard with their starter being Raymond Felton as of right now. Sure, they have talent on the wings in Chandler Parsons and new signing Wesley Matthews. They also have one of the best players to ever play the game in 37-year-old Dirk Nowitzki in the waning years of his career. After 17 seasons, it might be time for the Mavericks to let Nowitzki move elsewhere.
Nowitzki’s loyalty to Mark Cuban and the Mavericks organization has been heralded time and again. He’s stayed with them through times of uncertainty and led them to an NBA Championship. Dirk is also the guy that has taken less money on arguably his final contracts of his career so that the Mavs would have a better opportunity to build another team that can compete for a title.
No matter who else the Mavericks sign this summer, competing for a title isn’t going to be an option for them next season. You could argue that landing Jordan wouldn’t have changed that either, but his presence makes it far more likely of a possibility than it currently is. Subsequently, Nowitzki shouldn’t selfishly waste the last few years of his career on a team with a limited ceiling. Contrarily, they should look out for his best interests and look to trade him to a contender.
There’s much at play in that hypothetical scenario. For one, it’s operating on a premise of the moral gray area that exists in what is essentially a business rewarding commitment and loyalty in the past by pushing that loyal and committed person to another place of business. Moreover, it also operates on the premise that a trade is something that Nowitzki would be open to.
Despite all of the murky water that is being treaded here, Nowitzki is too iconic, important, great, and all of the superlatives that he deserves to spend his final years in the NBA not contributing to something meaningful. He’s no longer the force that he once was, but he still has enough left in the tank to be a key contributor on a team in need of a highly skilled veteran that’s on the cusp of being a title-contender.
While Dirk’s best interest is the key part of this entire situation, trading the big man might actually work in favor of the Mavericks’ future as well. Obviously losing a cornerstone of the franchise is a blow, but it would allow the organization the opportunity to fully set into motion a rebuilding process, rather than essentially being mired in NBA purgatory at the end of the lottery or just outside.
There’s no telling if Cuban would be willing to repay Dirk for what the forward has given the Mavs owner and the rest of the organization over his career by trading him. Likewise, we don’t know if Cuban would want to start a rebuilding process with guys like Parsons and Matthews on the roster. As I said, there’s also no way of knowing right now if Nowitzki would even be willing to be a part of a such a move. In the interest of seeing one of the best players of a generation go out in a manner that he deserves, it’s what the Mavericks need to do for Dirk. Nowitzki himself and us as NBA fans deserve to see him as a part of a title race rather than milling away on a 40-win fringe playoff team.