As Dirk Nowitzki nears his enshrinement in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday, we’re commemorating the honor with a series of stories about the greatest Maverick of them all.
Today, we get personal thoughts from some of the people who have known Nowitzki a long time — and one young Maverick who watched him for a long time.
By TAMARA JOLEE
My favorite thing about Dirk’s career is that his story became our stories. Every fan, employee and media member can recall a moment or time that he greatly impacted our lives. Dirk reminded us that anything is possible. He gave us a reason to BELIEVE.
The excitement he brought to this city is a major reason that I went into sports as a career. I witnessed firsthand how the game can bring people together and spark hope and joy in those who need a reason to smile.
I know this angle well because I lived it.
During the 2011 championship run, I was in the throes of cancer treatment and battling for my life. There in small hospital rooms, the Mavericks gave me a chance to dream again. For all the ways Dirk dazzled on the court, his spirit captured me the most. He brought an energy that was palpable in the city, and he unified folks from every background. We were all in it together.
Dirk averaged 23 points during the 2010-11 campaign. It’s quite fitting that he will also enter the 2023 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Life has come full circle.
For everything Dirk was on the court – he’s an even greater human. Years after my cancer journey, I started covering the Mavs as a reporter. I spent the final years of Dirk’s career watching him behind the scenes. He’s deeply dedicated to children, and his hospital visits are legendary each year. He asks for no hoopla to make it an intimate affair with each child. Another favorite memory is how he’d stay up late and sign every piece of fan mail, long after everyone went home. There in the dark, he’d sit there and read every single line of cards and mail that came in. Then he’d write out the return address and send it back to the fans. It was extraordinary to witness. Another favorite memory with No. 41 was the time we visited the Texas State Capitol. It was his first visit to Austin. Instead of flying, he wanted to ride in the car to experience the 200 miles between the cities. I also got to experience how much he loves being a husband and father.
I have countless memories of Dirk on the court, but nothing comes close to the night he scored his 30,000th point. It was other-worldly, almost a spiritual experience the way it happened. It was March 2017 against the Lakers, and you could feel the energy buzzing in the arena. He hit a baseline jumper about 10 minutes into the game, and everyone went crazy! They showed Holger on the screen tearing up, and grown men were crying. It was indeed one of the best experiences of my life!
As Dirk steps onto the Hall of Fame podium, I’ll be watching with intense pride, celebrating his legendary career and the monumental impact he’s had on the community. His path to stardom is unlike anything the NBA has ever seen and he is truly the GOAT.
Dirk forever changed the game and touched the lives of millions of people around the globe. I’m one of them.
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Dirk Nowitzki?
That’s my era of growing up. He was a guy that was super dope because that European transition was going on then. And Dirk was a phenomenal talent. To see him and (Tim) Duncan in this division going at each other was special.
And he inspired a lot of big men that can shoot. I look back at that team with Tyson Chandler and Shawn Marion on that team. I loved Shawn Marion, even though his jump shot didn’t look the best. But toward the end of his career, he started making shots.
I have a little connection to that year. I grew up and my brother was a big Miami Heat guy and a big LeBron James guy. My mother was a San Antonio Spurs fan. It’s funny, but I was actually going for the Mavs – opposite of where my brother and my mother were going.
Dirk was just special. He knew how to impact the game and impact winning. And he was one of a kind. Just to score that many points in an NBA career, it’s unthinkable for most of us.
By DWAIN PRICE
By the time the 2001-02 season rolled around, Dirk Nowitzki was entering his fourth NBA campaign. And it was a year where he stitched together his first of 14 All-Star seasons.
In other words, the Big German was officially on the NBA map, with fans settling in and getting accustomed to his dominant long-range shooting. In the midst of Nowitzki strutting his stuff, the Mavs had rallied from an 0-2 deficit to win the final three games of a best-of-five series in the opening round of the 2001 playoffs against the Utah Jazz. That includes clinching the decisive Game 5 in Salt Lake City, 84-83, in dramatic fashion on a late bucket by Calvin Booth.
This was the first playoff series Nowitzki won during his 21-year career. And to rally and clinch it in the sacred backyard of Jazz future Hall of Famers, Karl Malone and John Stockton, was very impressive.
But what got me all riled up about the future of the Mavs with Nowitzki as their bell cow was what transpired during their 2002 best-of-five first-round playoff series against Kevin Garnett and the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Garnett, you see, was the king of the NBA trash talkers at that time. In fact, if you look up the definition of trash talkers in the dictionary, it wouldn’t surprise me if you’ll see Garnett’s stoic face mean-mugging the camera with venom spewing from his mouth.
As that Mavs-Timberwolves’ series unfolded, Garnett was constantly in Nowitzki’s face and saying words that weren’t suitable for TV. However, Nowitzki seemed totally focused and completely oblivious to the nasty chatter coming from Garnett.
In the opening game of the series won by the Mavs, 101-94, Nowitzki responded with 30 points and 15 rebounds in 44 minutes, while Garnett collected 19 points and 21 rebounds in 44 minutes.
In Game 2 captured by the Mavs, 122-110, Nowitzki maneuvered for 31 points and 15 rebounds in 43 minutes, and Garnett finished with 31 points and 18 boards in 46 minutes.
And in the series-clinching Game 3 won by the Mavs on the road, 115-102, Nowitzki wound up with 39 points and 17 rebounds in 43 minutes, while Garnett had 22 points and 17 boards in 40 minutes.
For the epic three-game series, Nowitzki averaged 33.3 points and 15.7 rebounds in 43.3 minutes, and Garnett averaged 24 points and 18.7 boards in 43.3 minutes. And when this series was history – after Nowitzki had ceremoniously silenced the biggest trash talker in the NBA — it was at that moment that I knew the Mavs were definitely in good hands for many years to come.
By EDDIE SEFKO
The most memorable thing about nearly 20 years as the Mavericks’ beat writer while Dirk Nowitzki was playing is his unwavering willingness to provide time.
He was never too busy for a nuisance of a reporter to ask a few questions.
Example: On a nondescript Eastern Conference road trip, the Mavericks had a day off in Washington. They practiced. And Dirk stayed behind after the team buses departed back to the hotel.
Alone with a rebound-shagger on a subterranean practice gym, Nowitzki shot jumpers for an hour. Then for another 30 minutes. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of shots.
All along, I sat at the other end of the court tapping on my laptop and waiting.
When he was finally done, sweat dribbling down his face and puddling on the floor, he asked: Why are you still here?
“Just trying to do my job,” I said.
With that he sat down, asked what I needed, then proceeded to tell me about how he had told the Mavericks that he was willing to offer them a hometown discount on his next contract if it helped facilitate an influx of title-worthy talent.
This was before the first championship and one of several times that Nowitzki took less money on a contract to benefit the organization.
Not that he didn’t end up just fine financially. He made more than $250-million in his NBA career, according to basketball-reference.com.
But it was a sign of just how much Dirk cared – about the organization and about treating people well.
Another example? It was a far bigger stage, with hundreds of reporters at Miami Arena in the 2011 NBA finals. Dirk was nursing a finger injury that clearly was impacting him.
He gave stock answers about it in the interview session.
Then, one reporter stuck behind after everybody else left – except Dirk and Holger Geschwindner, who were working on the main floor of cavernous Miami Arena, trying to find the best ways to deal with the injured digit.
An hour or two after the session began, the pair emerged and this sole reporter was waiting.
“You still here?” Nowitzki said.
And while he walked to his ride outside the loading dock, he supplied a few quotes updating how the finger was doing after a strenuous workout.
Nothing earth-shaking. But something that gave fans a little more info about the injury. Something along the lines of: “It’s not great, but I’ll be OK.”
And he was. Championship-worthy great. He once again took time when he didn’t have to. Time for a nagging reporter. Time for his fans.
It’s what he has always done. Even when he’d rather have done anything else besides answer probing questions.
To me, that’s what made Dirk, Dirk.
Twitter: @ESefko
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