Dallas Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki is no stranger to the superteam era in the NBA. Nowitzki helped take down a superteam, the LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh-led Miami heat, back in the 2011 NBA Finals. Recently, the superteam era has taken a slight twist, with stars essentially forcing their way out of their current situations to go play with others. Philadelphia 76ers superstar James Harden, who was recently traded for Ben Simmons, immediately comes to mind. Nowitzki spoke to Sports Illustrated and appeared to throw shade at Harden and Simmons with his recent comments.

“It's definitely new,” Nowitzki said on SI’s Crossover podcast. “We always felt like we the players didn't have enough power at the beginning of my career (in 1998), and the owners had all the power, could make all the moves. And now it’s almost shifting like a little bit too much. I think there should be like a happy medium. But now the players forcing themselves out, to me is not the way to go, either.”

Mavs legend Dirk Nowitzki makes a great point about the NBA. Nowitzki said that when he first entered the league, the owners had all the power and could make “all the moves.” Now, the former league MVP believes the power has shifted to the players- a little bit too much. In saying so, he appeared to throw shade at Ben Simmons and James Harden.

“Players forcing themselves out?” Wonder who Nowitzki could be referring to there? It's possible that the Mavs legend is simply talking about the league as a whole, though one can at least gather that he probably wasn't too thrilled with how the Harden-Simmons situation played out with the Sixers and the Nets.

He's not the only one.