Former Dallas Mavericks MVP power forward Dirk Nowitzki enjoyed what has been, to date, the best NBA career for any international star, blowing open the doors for a subsequent generation of overseas superstars to make their mark on the league.
Now, the modern league is loaded with overseas standout stars. In fact, the three winners of the NBA’s six most recent MVP awards all hail from abroad: Serbian Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (winner of three of the last four such accolades), Cameroonian Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid, and Greek Milwaukee Bucks power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo. The last U.S.-born winner of the honor was point guard James Harden in 2018, then with the Houston Rockets.
The emergence of Nowitzki as a bona fide superstar at the start of the 21st century — in addition to the arrivals of fellow Hall of Famers Pau Gasol, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, and Yao Ming — ushered in this far more global era of elite hoops.
Nowitzki’s career exploits may be legendary, but the end of his run was less than awe-inspiring.
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While in Ljubljana, Slovenia, to celebrate the retirement of former All-NBA point guard Goran Dragic, Nowitzki got impressively honest about his own retirement, per Cesare Milanti of Eurohoops.
“I think I missed the right time if you watched my last two years,” Nowitzki conceded. “It’s always hard to find the right moment for a competitor. The decision was kind of made for me. I think mentally I could have done one more year to see [current All-NBA Mavericks guard] Luka [Doncic] grow and help him out. But physically I couldn’t keep it up, it was very hard even in my mid-30s. I was afraid of what was coming after, but it has been wonderful.”
The 7-foot big man claimed the 2007 MVP and led the Mavericks to a pair of NBA Finals, in 2006 and 2011. Nowitzki was a 14-time All-Star and 12-time All-NBA honoree across a 21-year career, from 1998-2019. An incredible scorer from all over the court, Nowitzki was able to spread the floor, rebound the rock from anywhere, and show off an impressive handle to emerge as one of the most unique players in the history of the game.
Nowitzki boasted career numbers of 20.7 points on a .471/.380/.879 slash line, 7.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.8 blocks, across 1,522 regular season games (1,460 starts). He also suited up for 145 playoff games, all with Dallas. During his last two seasons, however, Nowitzki’s mobility eroded badly.
Across that span, on two lottery-bound Mavericks squads, he averaged 10.2 points on .424/.373/.861 shooting splits, 4.7 rebounds, 1.2 assists, and 0.5 blocks a game, during just 21.1 minutes.
Doncic, with whom Nowitzki overlapped during his final season, has helped Dallas reach a new era of league-wide relevance. Doncic guided the club to the Western Conference Finals in 2022 and then trounced that by returning the Mavericks back to the NBA Finals for the first time since Nowitzki won it all in 2011.
In a stark reminder of the passage of time, Jason Kidd — the starting point guard on those 2011 champions — is now the Mavericks’ head coach.
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