Dirk Nowitzki Thinks Loyalty Is A Thing Of The Past In The NBA


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In the fallout from the trade sending Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic, Brooklyn’s 2018 first round pick, and a 2020 second rounder to the Cavaliers in exchange for Kyrie Irving going to Boston, there was a lot of discussion about loyalty in the NBA from both players and teams. There have been many in the league that have supported Irving for being courageous enough to step up and request a trade in order to try and test himself outside of the shadow of LeBron James.

Where Irving received some praise (and also plenty of criticism), the Celtics were widely criticized for their handling of Isaiah Thomas in dealing him, which was a bit rare. Many players voiced frustrations with the Celtics organization for shipping out a player that did so much for the franchise, most notably playing in the wake of his sister’s tragic death.

The loyalty conversation in sports bubbles up from time to time, often when a player chooses to leave a team — the argument was never hotter than when LeBron left Cleveland in 2010 — but when teams move on it’s usually chalked up for business. Those conversation points may be changing, but for someone like Dirk Nowitzki who’s played with the same team his whole career, he finds himself not totally onboard with the new NBA.

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“I think I’m old school,” Nowitzki said. “Some of these guys that are now stars are obviously younger and the business has changed a bit. You know, I never knew what to expect when I came to Dallas, but everything just came together here. The way when I got here that the community embraced me and wanted me to succeed, and then Cuban buying the team at the end of my second year was a huge part of why I was here my entire career. He was a huge supporter of mine. He’s a friend of mine and he’s always supported me throughout my career. So I was here, I belong to this community and it was always easy for me to be loyal. But I understand it. The new NBA is a little different. It’s about making money and winning and not as much about being loyal anymore.”

Nowitzki acknowledges that he’s in a unique situation in Dallas and it’s probably more unique than he even really knows. Few owners have the type of relationship with their players that Cuban and Dirk have, and their ability to relate on a personal level and bring that to the business side has allowed them both to make some concessions at times when negotiating. That’s rarely the case anywhere else with stars and owners, so while Dirk explains his mindset as old school, his very unique relationship with Cuban may be an even bigger factor than his drive to want to stay in Dallas.

There are plenty of players that want to remain with a certain team, but go elsewhere due to contract disputes or even simply feeling like they’re not being given the best opportunity to compete (as happened with James and Cleveland in 2010, and potentially again in 2018). Whatever the case, it’s clear that Nowitzki can’t exactly put himself in Kyrie’s shoes in this situation, as he remains a rarity in today’s NBA.

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