DALLAS — Dirk Nowitzki said Wednesday that he and Dallas Mavericks president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri have spent the last couple of weeks discussing what his role with the franchise could be. He added that he will not be taking a full-time job anytime soon.
Nowitzki made the comments on Shan & RJ on 105.3 The Fan, two weeks after the station became the Mavericks’ flagship radio home under a multi-year agreement with Audacy. Nowitzki and Ujiri go back more than a decade through NBA Africa. Nowitzki’s schedule is what stands in the way of anything formal. He just returned from a week in Europe at the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup, and Amazon’s NBA coverage resumes next month.
“I’ve obviously known Masai for a long time through some NBA ties, through NBA Africa ties, and so I’ve known him for probably 10-plus years,” Nowitzki said. “So we’ve had some discussions over the last couple of weeks. And we’ll see. Obviously, we know that I’m pretty busy with some FIBA stuff. I just got back from Europe from the Women’s World Cup, which was, by the way, amazing turnout.”
“Then obviously with the whole Amazon picking back up next month, so there won’t be any time soon that I’m taking a full-time job,” Nowitzki continued. “But we’re definitely discussing on what could be my role in the future, but obviously it’s way too soon to kind of speak on that. But I’ve met Masai a couple times, and excited for the Mavs’ future.”
The World Cup ran Sept. 4-13 in Berlin and drew 236,015 fans across 36 games, according to FIBA. The previous record of 145,519 was set in Sydney in 2022. The United States beat France 97-79 in the final for its fifth straight title.
On Aug. 31, Nowitzki told Mike Curtis of The Dallas Morning News that he and Ujiri had been in touch by text over the summer and that a sit-down could come later. Nowitzki played all 21 of his NBA seasons in Dallas and won the 2011 championship. He retired in 2019 as the franchise leader in points, rebounds, and games.
Dirk Nowitzki On Masai Ujiri’s Changes
Dallas hired Ujiri on May 4. He won the 2019 NBA championship as president of the Toronto Raptors and was the NBA’s Executive of the Year in 2013 with Denver. Nowitzki said Ujiri was within his rights to bring in his own people after taking over.
“I think it was time to move on,” Nowitzki explained. “Time to move on. And hired Masai, who’s a proven winner in this league and has turned around a bunch of franchises. And he came in and did a bunch of changes, brought in a bunch of his own people and, obviously, well within his rights, brought a new GM, brought a new coach. So everything’s kind of new.”
Fifteen days after hiring Ujiri, Dallas dismissed Jason Kidd. Mike Schmitz became the general manager, and the Mavericks hired Dusty May as head coach on June 23. Former president of basketball operations and general manager Nico Harrison was fired in November 2025. The Mavericks finished 26-56, 12th in the Western Conference.
Dirk Nowitzki Statue’s Future Still Unclear
On June 1, the Mavericks announced option agreements for the potential purchase of 104 acres at the former Valley View Mall site in North Dallas. The new arena is targeted for 2031, when the team’s lease at American Airlines Center expires. Nowitzki has no part in those plans. What he knows about the 23-foot statue outside American Airlines Center comes from what he reads.
“I don’t know. It might just tear down. Who knows?” Nowitzki said. “I don’t know, actually. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I think all of that is still pretty fresh, too. I’m not even really involved.”
“I don’t probably know as much as you guys, just anything that I read,” Nowitzki added. “So we’ll see how all that works, and if they want to move it, that would be great, and that would be an honor.”
The statue shows Nowitzki’s one-legged fadeaway and was unveiled Dec. 25, 2022. In June, Nowitzki told The Dallas Morning News that he hoped it would move with the team, joking that it “might be more portable than me at this point.”
Nowitzki hosts the eighth annual Dirk Nowitzki Foundation Tennis Classic from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. CT on Saturday at Banner House at T Bar M in Dallas. The Mavericks open the regular season on Oct. 21 at Houston at 7:30 p.m. CT.
