By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Dirk Nowitzki has decided to opt out of the final season of his contract with the Dallas Mavericks but has no intention of leaving the team.
Nowitzki, who has previously stated on several occasions that he planned to play out the three-year, $25 million deal, announced his decision during an appearance Monday on 1310 The Ticket in Dallas.
“We had one more year on the contract, but I think this is the right thing to do,” he said. “We’re going to sit with Mark [Cuban] and Donnie [Nelson] obviously over the next few weeks and figure out how to improve this franchise again.
“Ever since after the championship, we’ve been basically a first-round exit. We’ve been a seven, eight seed. We’ve only won a few playoff games, and obviously the goal was to compete at the highest level in my last couple of years. So there is some moving to do, some thinking, some putting our heads together the next few weeks heading into free agency, heading into the draft. So this is just one move that hopefully starts a chain reaction for us to get better again, to compete really at a high level. We’ll see how it goes.”
Nowitzki, 37, would have made $8.7 million next season if he opted to complete his three-year contract. He could take a lower salary to give the Mavs more flexibility this summer.