Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki does not regret the team's decision to trade for Rajon Rondo. Although the trade didn't work out, Nowitzki told reporters it was a gamble the Mavericks had to take.
All signs point to Rondo being finished in Dallas. The blockbuster trade Dallas made in December didn't work out the way the team had hoped, with Rondo turning out not to be a fit at all with the Mavericks. His numbers and his production dropped, he butted heads with coach Rick Carlisle, he was suspended for one game and benched in multiple games, and the Mavericks' offense actually regressed with him on the court.
Despite the turmoil and the early exit from the playoffs, Nowitzki doesn't regret the organization making the trade.
"We had to do it," Nowitzki said, according to the Dallas Morning News. "I thought Cubes (owner Mark Cuban) and Donnie (Nelson, general manager) did everything to put us in a position to win. It's unfortunate, but we'll see what happens this summer.
"If you can get a player like Rondo, I think you go for it every time. I don't think anybody is looking at that now. It was a deal that was there and that we went for. It just didn't pan out for both sides and both sides moved on. Mark and Donnie always try to make this team better. Sometimes it works, sometimes it's a gamble, and sometimes it doesn't."
Both Rondo and the Mavericks appear ready to move on from each other. If that does happen, then his time in a Mavericks uniform ended unceremoniously: a poor performance in Game 1, a benching in Game 2 and then a deactivation - because of a back injury, supposedly - in Games 3, 4 and 5.
Rondo is expected to have a number of suitors in free agency this summer, but given what happened in Dallas this season, it's no longer a certainty he'll end up getting a max contract.
