September 9, 2025 • 9 mins
In this riveting episode of The Ben and Skin Show, the crew dives deep into the evolving relationship between Dallas Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki and the franchise he helped define. Ben Rogers, Jeff “Skin” Wade, Kevin “KT” Turner, and Krystina Ray unpack Dirk’s recent comments urging ownership to “spend, spend, spend” to build a championship-caliber team for the next decade.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
When Kevin with Ill show You're gone ruin it, He
except with similar speak pursuing it.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Hold out shaw shank through the sewer, Dude, Now.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
What chilling at the eagle?
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Yeah, we're doing it.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
Three your clock on the dot.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Got a habit for my house or go? That is
how it starting, kid crattit show that up bolt applied
like a rabbit tune in so out creak it up
beat the habit.
Speaker 4 (00:27):
Im on, I hang out with my friend talking on
the radio, My holen.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
On boy, Skin and Skin.
Speaker 4 (00:37):
Talking on the radio. It's time to do this spons again.
All baby, we go, Katie Christine up and.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
All up on our radio. Ah, yes, hello to welcome everybody,
Happy Tuesday. It's the world famous Ben and Skin Show.
Thank you for tuning in today and every day. Though
it says something about to you that you listened to
the dumbest show in America. We got a good one
scheduled for you today. I know because I was in
the pre show meeting. I'm Ben Rogers, joined by Jeff
(01:10):
skin Wade, Kevin KT Turner, and Christina k Ray Little
Cornbread k Ray, Reyray Ray and were all hands on
deck excited for the show. Today, man, I saw a
couple of things that stood out to me that I
want to get into right off the rip, and that
is Dirk Noovisky with his advice to MAVs ownership. He said,
the owner has to show that he's willing to spend
(01:33):
and then make this a great team for the next
decade to come. And I found that interesting. First of all,
I wonder about the relationship with Dirk and the Mavericks.
It seems too it was certainly odd. I don't know
at what point it became complicated, but you know, it's
(01:54):
clearly the Luca trade if you just you know, not
reading into actual words, but just reading into what was happening.
Dirk goes and watches Luca his debut in LA. The
only game he comes to after that, to my knowledge,
was Luca returning to Dallas. It almost seemed like more
supporting Luca than anything. But I've heard some comments from
(02:16):
Dirk where he's like, hey, I'm a Maverick for life, man,
and you know, and so he's he's committed to this,
which you love hearing and seeing those things. By the way,
Dirk's big celebrity tennis event is going on this weekend
and you can get tickets to it. Just follow the
Dirt Novisky Foundation on Instagram. Click on the link there
you'll see the link to buy your tickets. But always
a great event, but I was worried that Dirk was
(02:37):
detached from the organization and that concerned me. With regard
to Cooper Flag, I want Cooper Flag and Dirk to
have a great relationship. So then I see that Cooper
Flag's going to be at Dirk's tennis event, I'm like, Okay,
I like that, And so it looks like it looks
like things are good, I think. And so to have
(02:58):
Dirk comment about this, I like this a lot. He's
basically saying, don't suddenly get cheap on us. You've got
to spend, spend, spend and spending. Is he talking specifically about, hey,
go into the luxury tax, like pay to have a
badass team, don't blow this? Yeah, I think without really
knowing the context, it's tough to know. I mean, the
it's different than baseball because there are rules about how
(03:22):
much you can actually spend. The Mavericks are a sneeze
away from being what's called over the second apron, which
means you can't do anything right, Like they've spent all
that they're allowed to spend, and then as guys become
free agents, are they willing to go way beyond the tax?
And it's more than just spending money, it's also do
(03:44):
you have the team that you want? Like Golden State
went through this, right, and that's why Golden State let
Clay go and they still tried to get him back,
but Golden State was so far over the second apron
they were like, I don't even know what to do anymore. Right,
So it's a little more comp located than than that.
And without really knowing what he was asked or what
he's replying to, you know, answering there, it's kind of
(04:07):
hard to know.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
I will say this about you know, reading into the
Dirk relationship with ownership, I don't know. I do know
that I'm ninety nine percent certain that Dirk didn't go
to any Maverick games last year when Luca was on
the team too, Like in other words, Luca was traded
in February and for obvious optic reasons, everyone was like,
(04:30):
Dirk only.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Went to the Luca game, and it was like, I don't.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
I didn't see Dirk once this year which to me
might even be a beer problem, like if it wasn't
even just it was like some sort of a I
don't know, I don't know what was happening there, but
it wasn't around yeah, and he could that could have
been Dirk's choice, right, just just don't know, like we're
just we're reading into it.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
But you know, busy, right, So I I really don't know.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
I would be wildly speculating on you know, Dirk and
ownership and all that kind of stuff. I know just
from internal stuff I've seen they very much want a
relationship with Dirk. And you know, Dirk's getting ready to
go to Germany because the Mavericks are building a court
in Wurtzburg. So you know, we have this event with
Dirk this weekend. We're going to be there.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
I can't wait for this. I love it.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Anybody who's never been go to this. It's so much
fun and has been mentioned. Cooper Flag is going to
be there and then he's got like a week of
stuff and then he gets ready and then he's got
a he's flying to Germany with the Mavericks to do
a big court honor thing in his hometown in Wurtzburg.
So he's at least still doing that for whatever that's worth.
And then after that we are going to be seeing
(05:37):
Dirk on Amazon every f and week. So I guess
this was a interview that took place on the fan
and he said, at this point, it's just keep going,
keep putting a good product out there. The trade is
what it is. It happens. You want to show that
you you want to show that you have the MAVs,
(05:57):
the organization, and the fans in your mind and at heart.
You want to put the best product out there that
you believe is going to win and compete for years
to come. The owner has to show that he's willing
to spend and then make this a great team for
the next decade to come. So that's all there really
is to it. Yeah, I'm not too involved in front
office decisions these days. I try to go to practice
(06:18):
a lot. It felt a little weird not knowing my role.
Since then, I've kind of pulled back again. I've met
with Patrick, I've met with Nico. Over the years, I'm
not really a part of the day to day business now. Obviously,
me going into some broadcasting, I'll be super busy starting
here in October with the season. But I'm a phone
(06:39):
call away. I'm obviously always here. Yeah I can. And
you know, Cuban said the same thing a couple of
weeks ago on DLLs. He at least the way I
read it, Cuban made it seem like he has no
relationship with basketball operations. So Dirk and Cuban are both
saying they have no relationship with basketball operations. That's up
(07:03):
to Nico and his scouts. And I think Jason kids
involved in that, right. We know Kid and Dirk have
always had a great relationship, assuming they continue to have
a great relationship.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
So uh but yeah, I uh, the way it used
to operate is clearly not.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
The case anymore, right, And if it's me, if I'm
Patrick Dumont, I mean, it's obviously tough now with Dirk
taking this job with Amazon, I just make Dirk president
of basketball operations, And maybe that happens at some point
down the road. But if you want the Dallas fan
base to forget about the trade or move on or
whatever or believe in your team, you need more Dirk.
(07:42):
And so I would say, and Dirk may not want that, obviously,
but at some point I'd be like, dude, run everything.
It all goes through you. You can be the president
of Basketball Ops. You don't have to. You can work
whatever you want. We just want your fingerprints on everything
we do. You know, I would be on board of that.
You would be on board with that, The fan base
would be on board with that. I'm not involved in
(08:03):
any of this, but my read is that the public
perception of all of that what the public wants. If
they were going to acquiesce to that, they would have
done it a long time ago. And so what I'm
watching right now just taking my fandom out of it
and taking you being on the broadcast and growing up
in Dallas out of that. If I'm just looking at
(08:24):
it as a basketball team, what that looks like to
me is that the ownership group is going to see
what basketball operations is doing with the team.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
That's what it looks like to me. But I'm not
privy to anything beyond.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Well, there's no rush to it anyways, because Dirk is
obviously opening a starting a whole new chapter of his
life with the Amazon stuff, so we get to kind
of see how that goes. Yeah, he may love it,
he may not love it. It's a great life if
it's your thing. Look at Charles Barkley. There was a
time period seven or eight years ago where Barkley was like,
how come I'm not a GM and he's on the
set and he knows about ten players in the league,
(08:57):
so getting paid, Like, ask about his life?
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Yeah, I bet Romo digs it.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Yeah, he's what.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
He's gonna make twenty million a season and plays golf
all the time.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Right, yeah, all right, Uh, there you have it. We
are off and running. We're gonna take us next in things.
Skin is tracking. I'm gonna blow your mind with an
experience I had at a talker. Rea
When Kevin with Ill show You're gone ruin it, He
except with similar speak pursuing it.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Hold out shaw shank through the sewer, Dude, Now.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
What chilling at the eagle?
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Yeah, we're doing it.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
Three your clock on the dot.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Got a habit for my house or go? That is
how it starting, kid crattit show that up bolt applied
like a rabbit tune in so out creak it up
beat the habit.
Speaker 4 (00:27):
Im on, I hang out with my friend talking on
the radio, My holen.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
On boy, Skin and Skin.
Speaker 4 (00:37):
Talking on the radio. It's time to do this spons again.
All baby, we go, Katie Christine up and.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
All up on our radio. Ah, yes, hello to welcome everybody,
Happy Tuesday. It's the world famous Ben and Skin Show.
Thank you for tuning in today and every day. Though
it says something about to you that you listened to
the dumbest show in America. We got a good one
scheduled for you today. I know because I was in
the pre show meeting. I'm Ben Rogers, joined by Jeff
(01:10):
skin Wade, Kevin KT Turner, and Christina k Ray Little
Cornbread k Ray, Reyray Ray and were all hands on
deck excited for the show. Today, man, I saw a
couple of things that stood out to me that I
want to get into right off the rip, and that
is Dirk Noovisky with his advice to MAVs ownership. He said,
the owner has to show that he's willing to spend
(01:33):
and then make this a great team for the next
decade to come. And I found that interesting. First of all,
I wonder about the relationship with Dirk and the Mavericks.
It seems too it was certainly odd. I don't know
at what point it became complicated, but you know, it's
(01:54):
clearly the Luca trade if you just you know, not
reading into actual words, but just reading into what was happening.
Dirk goes and watches Luca his debut in LA. The
only game he comes to after that, to my knowledge,
was Luca returning to Dallas. It almost seemed like more
supporting Luca than anything. But I've heard some comments from
(02:16):
Dirk where he's like, hey, I'm a Maverick for life, man,
and you know, and so he's he's committed to this,
which you love hearing and seeing those things. By the way,
Dirk's big celebrity tennis event is going on this weekend
and you can get tickets to it. Just follow the
Dirt Novisky Foundation on Instagram. Click on the link there
you'll see the link to buy your tickets. But always
a great event, but I was worried that Dirk was
(02:37):
detached from the organization and that concerned me. With regard
to Cooper Flag, I want Cooper Flag and Dirk to
have a great relationship. So then I see that Cooper
Flag's going to be at Dirk's tennis event, I'm like, Okay,
I like that, And so it looks like it looks
like things are good, I think. And so to have
(02:58):
Dirk comment about this, I like this a lot. He's
basically saying, don't suddenly get cheap on us. You've got
to spend, spend, spend and spending. Is he talking specifically about, hey,
go into the luxury tax, like pay to have a
badass team, don't blow this? Yeah, I think without really
knowing the context, it's tough to know. I mean, the
it's different than baseball because there are rules about how
(03:22):
much you can actually spend. The Mavericks are a sneeze
away from being what's called over the second apron, which
means you can't do anything right, Like they've spent all
that they're allowed to spend, and then as guys become
free agents, are they willing to go way beyond the tax?
And it's more than just spending money, it's also do
(03:44):
you have the team that you want? Like Golden State
went through this, right, and that's why Golden State let
Clay go and they still tried to get him back,
but Golden State was so far over the second apron
they were like, I don't even know what to do anymore. Right,
So it's a little more comp located than than that.
And without really knowing what he was asked or what
he's replying to, you know, answering there, it's kind of
(04:07):
hard to know.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
I will say this about you know, reading into the
Dirk relationship with ownership, I don't know. I do know
that I'm ninety nine percent certain that Dirk didn't go
to any Maverick games last year when Luca was on
the team too, Like in other words, Luca was traded
in February and for obvious optic reasons, everyone was like,
(04:30):
Dirk only.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Went to the Luca game, and it was like, I don't.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
I didn't see Dirk once this year which to me
might even be a beer problem, like if it wasn't
even just it was like some sort of a I
don't know, I don't know what was happening there, but
it wasn't around yeah, and he could that could have
been Dirk's choice, right, just just don't know, like we're
just we're reading into it.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
But you know, busy, right, So I I really don't know.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
I would be wildly speculating on you know, Dirk and
ownership and all that kind of stuff. I know just
from internal stuff I've seen they very much want a
relationship with Dirk. And you know, Dirk's getting ready to
go to Germany because the Mavericks are building a court
in Wurtzburg. So you know, we have this event with
Dirk this weekend. We're going to be there.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
I can't wait for this. I love it.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Anybody who's never been go to this. It's so much
fun and has been mentioned. Cooper Flag is going to
be there and then he's got like a week of
stuff and then he gets ready and then he's got
a he's flying to Germany with the Mavericks to do
a big court honor thing in his hometown in Wurtzburg.
So he's at least still doing that for whatever that's worth.
And then after that we are going to be seeing
(05:37):
Dirk on Amazon every f and week. So I guess
this was a interview that took place on the fan
and he said, at this point, it's just keep going,
keep putting a good product out there. The trade is
what it is. It happens. You want to show that
you you want to show that you have the MAVs,
(05:57):
the organization, and the fans in your mind and at heart.
You want to put the best product out there that
you believe is going to win and compete for years
to come. The owner has to show that he's willing
to spend and then make this a great team for
the next decade to come. So that's all there really
is to it. Yeah, I'm not too involved in front
office decisions these days. I try to go to practice
(06:18):
a lot. It felt a little weird not knowing my role.
Since then, I've kind of pulled back again. I've met
with Patrick, I've met with Nico. Over the years, I'm
not really a part of the day to day business now. Obviously,
me going into some broadcasting, I'll be super busy starting
here in October with the season. But I'm a phone
(06:39):
call away. I'm obviously always here. Yeah I can. And
you know, Cuban said the same thing a couple of
weeks ago on DLLs. He at least the way I
read it, Cuban made it seem like he has no
relationship with basketball operations. So Dirk and Cuban are both
saying they have no relationship with basketball operations. That's up
(07:03):
to Nico and his scouts. And I think Jason kids
involved in that, right. We know Kid and Dirk have
always had a great relationship, assuming they continue to have
a great relationship.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
So uh but yeah, I uh, the way it used
to operate is clearly not.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
The case anymore, right, And if it's me, if I'm
Patrick Dumont, I mean, it's obviously tough now with Dirk
taking this job with Amazon, I just make Dirk president
of basketball operations, And maybe that happens at some point
down the road. But if you want the Dallas fan
base to forget about the trade or move on or
whatever or believe in your team, you need more Dirk.
(07:42):
And so I would say, and Dirk may not want that, obviously,
but at some point I'd be like, dude, run everything.
It all goes through you. You can be the president
of Basketball Ops. You don't have to. You can work
whatever you want. We just want your fingerprints on everything
we do. You know, I would be on board of that.
You would be on board with that, The fan base
would be on board with that. I'm not involved in
(08:03):
any of this, but my read is that the public
perception of all of that what the public wants. If
they were going to acquiesce to that, they would have
done it a long time ago. And so what I'm
watching right now just taking my fandom out of it
and taking you being on the broadcast and growing up
in Dallas out of that. If I'm just looking at
(08:24):
it as a basketball team, what that looks like to
me is that the ownership group is going to see
what basketball operations is doing with the team.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
That's what it looks like to me. But I'm not
privy to anything beyond.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
Well, there's no rush to it anyways, because Dirk is
obviously opening a starting a whole new chapter of his
life with the Amazon stuff, so we get to kind
of see how that goes. Yeah, he may love it,
he may not love it. It's a great life if
it's your thing. Look at Charles Barkley. There was a
time period seven or eight years ago where Barkley was like,
how come I'm not a GM and he's on the
set and he knows about ten players in the league,
(08:57):
so getting paid, Like, ask about his life?
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Yeah, I bet Romo digs it.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Yeah, he's what.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
He's gonna make twenty million a season and plays golf
all the time.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Right, yeah, all right, Uh, there you have it. We
are off and running. We're gonna take us next in things.
Skin is tracking. I'm gonna blow your mind with an
experience I had at a talker. Rea
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