Dirk Nowitzki on staying loyal to one team for 21 years: ‘I’m more old school’

He also praised Steph Curry as a game changer
Dec 14, 2021
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Dirk Nowitzki in 2019.
PHOTO: AP

DIRK Nowitzki played in the NBA for 21 years. Considering the league is 75 years old, his long and storied career has seen a big chunk of NBA history — all of it with just one team: the Dallas Mavericks.

It’s a feat of longevity for any franchise player, and one that Nowitzki himself admits may be becoming a rarity.

“I think the times have changed a little bit,” said the 13-time All-Star to the press in a media conference to promote the upcoming Christmas Day games. “The NBA is also a big business. Everybody has a platform, everybody has a brand these days, and, you know, everybody has to find the best solution for them: What’s best for them, what’s best for their family, what market they really want to play in.”

At the time he was playing, none of this ever crossed his mind.

“I’m more old school. I was strictly focused on basketball, and I wanted to make it work here in Dallas,” said Nowitzki, who was inducted in the league’s 75 greatest list at the opening of the current season. “When I first got here and then Mark [Cuban] bought the team, we got really close. He made me his franchise player. The fans were incredibly loyal to me and wanted me to succeed, so it was easy for me to stay here and be a Mavericks fan and Mavericks player for life.”

What would have gotten him to leave, though?

Nowitzki mused, “The only reason I would have left is maybe if we wouldn’t have won the championship and at the end of my career I might have chased it somewhere or go ring chasing. I’m not sure it would have gotten that far. I’m glad, of course, in 2011, we were able to bring a championship here to Dallas and I never had to go somewhere else to chase a ring.”

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    Dirk Nowitzki praises Steph Curry

    His No. 41 jersey will be retired by the team in a pre-game ceremony on January 5, 2022, Dallas time, and as Forbes reports, ticket resale prices for that night are already through the roof.

    That same day, the Mavs — where Nowitzki is still active as a consultant — will also be facing the hot-shooting Steph Curry as the Golden State Warriors visit Dallas.

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    Dirk was all praises for Curry.

    “The way he’s been at the clip he’s shooting now, it’s just fantastic and fun to watch. I mean, in a way he’s changed the game. He’s changed the game to where these kids now shoot from, consistently shoot from way, way behind the three-point line,” he said.

    Nowitzki, no slacker in the shooting department himself, said that what he’s seeing on the paint now is “stuff you never would have seen when I started to play."

    And it's all because of Steph Curry.

    “He changed the game. He makes it look easy.”

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    Dirk Nowitzki in 2019.
    PHOTO: AP
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