Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (77) greets former player Dirk Nowitzki after beating the Phoenix Suns in game seven of the second round for the 2022 NBA playoffs at Footprint Center. Mandatory

Dirk Nowitzki made headlines by attending Luka Doncic’s first game with the Los Angeles Lakers, spurning his beloved Dallas Mavericks, and making a statement by going to LA. It’s one thing for the Mavericks front office and ownership to betray its fanbase, but it’s another for them to betray the franchise’s biggest icon and best player in Nowitzki.

After only tweeting an initial emoji after the trade, Nowitzki spoke further about the trade in a planned appearance for 96.7 The Ticket, talking about how disappointed he was in the decision to trade Doncic and why it was important for him to go to Los Angeles for the first game.

Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic warms up in front of the shadow outline of former player Dirk Nowitzki before the game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Golden State Warriors at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images / Jerome Miron-Imagn ImagesDirk was first asked about when he first learned about the trade and his initial reaction. “When I saw the news, I was actually all the way across on the other side of the world. I was vacationing with the family in the Maldives… It was the middle of the day and my phone starts blowing up, we’re actually about to go to lunch, and then we’re leaving that day to travel back… I looked on social media and I think I was as shocked and surprised as everybody was. I spent the next hour just following everything on social media and making sure this is real, this is happening… Really couldn’t believe it that this is what happened.”

He then went into talking about his discussions with Doncic and why he decided to go to Los Angeles for the first game. “Coming home, Luka, we texted a little bit. I felt a little disappointed and sad for him, didn’t see this coming, so he invited me to come out to his first game in LA, and I felt like I had to support him. I played with him my last season; we’ve gotten close, I’ve tried to mentor him, I try to help him as much as I can in the last few years. He’s a good kid. So, I felt like I had to go out there and support him in this new chapter. It was reported he was pretty down and disappointed how it went down, so I wanted to be there for him, wanted to be there for his family. You guys saw my face, it was weird. It was surreal to see him play for the Lakers. At the end of the day, I’ll never be a Lakers fan, but I will always be a Luka fan.”

Then, later in the conversation, Nowitzki said, “I’m sure he wanted to finish his career like I did.”

And he’s not the only one. The majority of fans thought Doncic would have a statue in the plaza outside of the American Airlines Center next to Dirk’s one day before a power-hungry general manager decided to wreck all of that in the middle of the night, disappointing a Dallas legend in the process.