Dirk Nowitzki will opt out of his contract to become a free agent.

Nowitzki reiterates, however, he'll remain with the Dallas Mavericks.

Nowitzki has an option for the 16-17 season worth $8.69 million. Opting out will give the Mavericks for flexibility to pursue free agents this offseason.

"We had one more year on the contract, but I think this is the right thing to do," Nowitzki said on 1310 The Ticket in Dallas. "We're going to sit with Mark and Donnie obviously over the next few weeks and figure out how to improve this franchise again. Ever since after the championship, we've been basically a first-round exit. We've been a seven, eight seed. We've only won a few playoff games, and obviously the goal was to compete at the highest level in my last couple of years, so there is some moving to do, some thinking, some putting our heads together the next few weeks heading into free agency, heading into the draft. So this is just one move that hopefully starts a chain reaction for us to get better again, to compete really at a high level. We'll see how it goes."