When the Dallas Mavericks acquired Kristaps Porzingis from the New York Knicks back in February, there was optimism that he will be able to play in for the Mavs the final stretch of the season. However, a few weeks after the trade, it was announced that he has been shut down. Dirk Nowitzki was one of the people who were a little bit disappointed with the decision.

In an appearance on Dennis and Cowlishaw show on ESPN Dallas 103.3 (via  Dallas Morning News), the recently retired Nowitzki said that he was hoping that Porzingis would somehow be able to play during the last two months of the season. However, he emphasized that he understands that the Latvian star's health is far more important than his desire to play with him.

“That's a long, long time and I was hoping he might get some action at the end of last year, but his body just wasn't quite ready yet for the season, for regular season games. We worked out with him obviously the last couple months, I mean he's going to be great. If stays healthy, he's super long, you don't even know on TV how long he really is, he's super skilled, he can shoot it anywhere, shoot it easy, shoot over anybody. It's going to take him some games, some preseason games, to kind of get his flow back, but he looked good, he looked skinny and ready to go. I think him and Luka should play well off each other.”

At some point, Nowitzki even considered playing one more year for the Mavs so that he can share the court with Porzingis and rookie sensation Luka Doncic. However, that no longer happened.

The Mavs icon is happy with his decision to walk away from the game of basketball, and he wishes nothing but the best for the new-look Dallas squad.