Dirk Nowitzki responds to Mark Cuban's comment on him and Luka Doncic / News - Basketnews.com

Dirk Nowitzki weighed in on Mark Cuban's recent comment on Luka Doncic being better than the retired German legend.

Credit: USA TODAY Sports-Scanpix Credit USA TODAY Sports-Scanpix

Mark Cuban recently revealed that he thinks Luka Doncic is a better player than Dirk Nowitzki, while stressing that the German legend is of the same opinion.

Luka Doncic

Team:Dallas MavericksPosition:PG, SGAge:25Height:201 cmWeight:104 kgBirth place:Ljubljana, SloveniaProfileNewsStatistics

Mavs minority owner appeared on a recent episode of Draymond Green's podcast, "The Draymond Green Show." One topic of discussion was whether Doncic is already a better player than Dirk Nowitzki, who famously led the franchise to its first and only NBA championship in 2011.

"Yes. No disrespect to Dirk. Dirk knows I love him to death... Dirk will be the first one to tell you Luka's better," Cuban said.

Doncic has already earned four All-NBA First-Team nominations, with a strong possibility of making it five in a row. He's averaging 34.0 points, 9.8 assists, and 9.1 rebounds.

In an appearance at NBA Unplugged with Kevin Hart, the retired German legend replied to his former employer.

"The good thing is that Mark doesn't know anything about basketball," Nowitzki said.

"We needed a little spark plug to change things. I didn't think it was going to be this kid. I'm like I'm not sure this is going to work. And so, there were plenty of doubts there from everybody on the team," Nowitzki had told 'All the Smoke' podcast of former NBA players Matt Barnes and Steven Jackson.

"You could see it, this kid's got something about him. He's got that swag, he knows how to play. We were thinking he's going to be a really good player, but I didn't think he was going to go that level."

Mavs coach Jason Kidd shared a similar opinion as Cuban, placing Doncic in the same category as Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Kobe Bryant.

"You can't take this young man for granted," Kidd said of Doncic on 97.1 The Freak's 'The Downbeat' earlier this season.

"He's better than Dirk. He's in the atmosphere of MJ, the best to ever do it - LeBron, Kobe. So just to appreciate what this young man is doing at the age of 24 is something that Dallas has never seen."

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