DALLAS — After losing to the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals, the Dallas Mavericks did not stand pat. The team acquired Klay Thompson via sign-and-trade as the headliner of their offseason haul that also included Naji Marshall, Quentin Grimes, and Spencer Dinwiddie. Dirk Nowitzki sees significant potential for this group as the beginning of the 2024-25 season looms.
Managing to achieve a Finals run as the fifth seed required the challenging journey of getting through three teams that won 50 or more regular season games, which is a tall ask without home-court advantage in any series. Putting together a better regular season squad along with a group better capable of countering the Celtics was necessary.
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Nowitzki, who spent all 21 seasons of his Hall of Fame career with the Mavericks, was among the participants in the star-studded “Night of the Dragon” event in Ljubljana, Slovenia that honored Goran Dragić’s entrance into basketball retirement. Nowitzki spoke to reporters during that event, which included sharing his thoughts on the moves the Mavericks made this summer around Luka Dončić.
Nowitzki: Mavericks Have “Pretty Complete Team”
Commending the Mavericks’ moves, Nowitzki called Dončić one of the world’s best players and feels he currently has the necessary talent around him to thrive. “I think we’ve made some great improvements around him,” he said, as shared to me by my friend, Cesare Milanti of EuroHoops, who was in attendance. “He’s obviously one of the best players in the league and in the world, and now we’re putting pieces around him that help him be successful.”
A process that began with the trade for Kyrie Irving in February of 2023, Nowitzki has been impressed with who the Mavericks have further added. Between lob threats capable of protecting the rim followed by the addition of needed shooting, Nowitzki described this group as being a “pretty complete team overall.”
“It started with Kyrie a few years ago,” Nowitzki explained. “It didn’t work right away, but then they had a great year last year. Now we’ve added some bigs that can defend and get his lobs, and we’ve got some shooters like Klay Thompson and others.”
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In terms of expectations, Nowitzki expects another successful season, but shared his perspective that it’s impossible to predict any team’s championship run, followed by sharing an insightful look into some of the many factors at play. He alluded to a reasonable goal being to at least earn home-court advantage for some portion of the postseason instead of having to begin every series on the road again.
“If everybody stays healthy, I think we should have a great season next year. But you can never predict an NBA championship,” Nowitzki stated. “It’s something you grow together throughout the year. You have ups and downs. You have to be healthy when the playoffs come, and you have to play your best basketball then. There are a lot of factors that play into a long season with 80-something games. Hopefully, we’ll have a good year, get a good seed going into the playoffs, and have some home-court advantage. Then, we’ll see how it goes.”
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Nowitzki understands as well as anybody in NBA history just how challenging it is to get over the championship hump and how long it can take. After losing in the Finals against the Miami Heat in 2006, it wasn’t for another five years until his team returned to that stage and came out victorious in his 13th season. Patience is a necessary element.
“You don’t just come in and win right away. You have to grow as a player, as a person,” Nowitzki emphasized. “You have to grow with the team. The team needs to get better. It doesn’t happen overnight.”
Nowitzki Shares Insight Into Dončić’s Career
The perspective Nowitzki shares on Dončić is especially intriguing considering the German icon’s final NBA season was the Slovenian superstar’s first. Nowitzki shared how grateful he was to have been involved in Dončić’s first season and shared insight into his adjustment process as he acclimated to the NBA.
“The transition was pretty smooth for him. I played with him for one year – my last year was his first year. I think we all didn’t know how good he was,” Nowitzki said of Dončić. “He was the EuroLeague MVP, whatever, but that doesn’t mean anything when you come to the NBA. Right away in the practices, you could see how he sees the game, how he reads the game. His passing, his scoring were just out of this world. It was a pleasure for me to be there for his first year, maybe help him a little bit if he had some questions.”
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Where Dončić’s game is at currently, Nowitzki compared the masterful skill and patience the Mavericks superstar plays with to that of a 35-year-old. The passing vision and execution Dončić brings to an offense exemplify reads that even Nowitzki admits were not made by him as a player.
“Honestly, if you watch him, he plays like a 35-year-old,” Nowitzki smiled. “He’s so smart, wicked smart, wicked basketball IQ. What he sees on the floor, I never saw, so it’s not like I can tell him, ‘Pass there,’ he knows better.”
Given how impactful Dončić already has been early in his career, Nowitzki doesn’t feel there’s a need for hands-on mentorship. It’s easy to understand why. Dončić won Rookie of the Year and has earned five consecutive All-NBA First-Team nods since. He just led the NBA in scoring while averaging 33.9 points, 9.8 assists, and 9.2 rebounds. It was his second straight season averaging at least 32-8-8.
“It’s not like I have to mentor him much,” Nowitzki said of Dončić. “He is who he is, he’s an incredible talent, incredible player, and we were just fortunate to be there in the first year when he just found his play and really grew into one our best players.”
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After achieving a run that was as close as it gets to advancing to the gold medal game before losing 90-89 to France at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Dončić’s Slovenian national team was unable to get back to the Olympic stage this summer. Instead, the group in a transitional period lost at the pre-Olympic qualifying tournament in Piraeus, which ultimately featured Giannis Antetokounmpo and Greece earning the nation’s first men’s basketball Olympic bid since 2008.
While observing international competition this summer, Nowitzki was eager to see Dončić’s squad breakthrough the field in order to advance to compete in Lille. “Of course,” Nowitzki said when asked if he wanted to see Dončić in the Olympics. “You want to see the best players in the world playing on the big stage. And the Olympic Games are a big stage. I followed the OQTs a little bit and in Greece, there was a tough tournament. It would have been tough to pull off.”
With a few months to recover, Dončić will be coming off a rare period to rest before returning to the grind of the NBA’s 82-game season. Compared to where this time was entering last season with Grant Williams as the only guaranteed starter outside of Dončić and Irving. There were many questions facing this group at the time.
As Nowitzki highlighted, the roster revamping that has transpired beginning with adding Irving, has positioned the Mavericks strongly regarding a regular season floor. With a deep team better capable of overcoming injuries, there are many reasons to be optimistic about their outlook.
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The Mavericks will hold media day in Dallas on Sept. 30 before opening training at UNLV the following day. The team returns to Texas on Oct. 5, followed by a four-game preseason schedule.
This article first appeared on Dallas Hoops Journal and was syndicated with permission.
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