Dallas Mavericks icon Dirk Nowitzki appeared on 96.7 The Ticket in Dallas-Fort Worth on Friday where he spoke about Luka Doncic being traded to the Los Angeles Lakers on Feb 2. Nowitzki attended Doncic’s first game as a Laker against the Utah Jazz on Feb. 10 and revealed the guard had asked him to come.
“We texted a bit, of course,” Nowitzki said. “I felt a little disappointed and sad for him. I think he obviously didn’t see this coming. So, he invited me to come out to his first game in L.A. and I felt like I had to support him. I played with him in my last season. We’ve gotten close, I’ve tried to mentor him.”
“I tried to help him as much as I can in the last few years and he’s a good kid,” Nowitzki stated. “So, I felt like I had to go out there and support him in this new chapter because, I mean, it was reported that he was pretty obviously down and disappointed (by) how it went down and so I wanted to be there for him.
“I wanted to be there for his family and show support,” Nowitzki added. “But I mean you guys saw my face, it was weird. It was surreal to see him play for the Lakers. So, at the end of the day, I’ll never be a Lakers fan but always be a Luka fan. It was good to see him and good to be there for him.”
Nowitzki sat alongside Doncic’s family at Crypto.com Arena for the game. As the 46-year-old stated here, you could see from his face that it was just a weird experience for him.
Dirk is in the house for Luka's Laker debut 👏
UTA-LAL on ESPN! pic.twitter.com/0JyRHV9h0Y
— NBA (@NBA) February 11, 2025
Doncic finished with 14 points (5-14 FG), five rebounds, and four assists on his debut to help the Lakers get a 132-113 win over the Jazz. Then in his postgame press conference, the Slovenian stated it felt amazing that Nowitzki came all the way from Dallas to Los Angeles for him.
“For him to show up, fly all the way from Dallas, it was amazing,” Doncic said.
It would have meant a lot to Doncic that Nowitzki made the trip, especially with how the Mavericks had unceremoniously shipped him out of town. He can rest easy knowing the German will always have his back.
Dirk Nowitzki On How He Found Out About Luka Doncic Being Traded
The Doncic trade sent shockwaves across the basketball world and Nowitzki certainly didn’t see it coming. During this appearance, he revealed how he found out the Mavericks had traded the five-time All-Star to the Lakers.
“When I saw the news, I was actually all across on the other side of the world,” Nowitzki stated. “I was vacationing with the family in the Maldives… We’re actually about to go to lunch and then we’re leaving that day to travel back and my phone starts blowing up left and right.
“Then I kind of looked on social media and I think I was as shocked and surprised as everybody was,” Nowitzki added. “… I was trying to wrap my head around what was really happening. And yeah, just really couldn’t believe it that this is what happened.”
Safe to say, Nowitzki wasn’t the only one who couldn’t believe Doncic had been traded. He was supposed to be a Maverick for life like his mentor but the organization had other ideas. Doncic and the Lakers will take on the Mavericks on Feb. 25, and he’d be keen to show his former team just how big of a mistake it was to trade him.
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