Franchise legend Dirk Nowitzki feels bad for Dallas Mavericks fans following the team’s terrible start to the 2025-26 NBA season. Through nine games, the Mavs sit at the bottom of the Western Conference standings with a 2-7 record. They have the worst offense in the NBA and have looked largely lost on that side of the floor to this point.
Somehow, Dallas’ decision to trade superstar guard Luka Doncic last season looks even worse now than it did at the time, as Doncic is an early MVP candidate in L.A., and the Mavs are seriously missing his playmaking abilities.
“I feel bad for my Mavs fans,” Nowitzki said on Amazon’s “NBA on Prime” show. “This has been a disastrous start. Obviously, there’s a hole at the point guard and playmaking position. We knew that that hole wasn’t filled this summer. There’s a hole at shot-creating, there’s a hole at shot-making.
"… It’s been just a disastrous start. They’re actually on pace to have a record bad start on offense. They can’t shoot. They can’t make plays. … It’s been tough to watch.”
Dirk:
— Oh No He Didn't (@ohnohedidnt24) November 8, 2025
"I feel bad for my Mavs fans. This has been a disastrous start. Obviously, there's a hole at the point guard and playmaking position...at shot creating, at shot making. They can't shoot, they can't make plays...nobody can make shots. It's been tough to watch" pic.twitter.com/GcCD38dshX
Nowitzki spent his entire illustrious career with Dallas, and he genuinely cares about the organization and its fans, so you know this season has been tough on him. But unfortunately for him and Mavs fans alike, the Doncic trade could be one of those things that takes an extremely long time to bounce back from.
Dallas had their guy – a young superstar who had just led the team to the Finals last year – and they got rid of him. The move was organizational malpractice. Unsurprisingly, it eroded the morale in Dallas and has led to growing questions regarding Nico Harrison’s job security.
The one bright spot for Dallas following the trade was landing the top overall pick in the draft which they used on Cooper Flagg, and even he’s struggled out of the gate compared to early expectations. It also only took a couple of weeks for Flagg to lament the losing taking place in Dallas.
“For me it’s the most I’ve lost since, you know, I think ever,” Flagg said following Dallas’ recent loss to the New Orleans Pelicans. “So it’s obviously a lot different. And you just have to adapt to just playing a lot more games and get used to that.
"I wouldn’t say anybody is happy," he added. "Guys obviously are trying to stay levelheaded and know that we got a lot more games to go and it’s still really early. But just speaking personally, it’s not fun to just keep losing and losing games.”
The vibes simply aren't great in Dallas right now, and if they can't turn things around in short order, this could quickly become a lost season for the Mavericks.