Dirk Werner Nowitzki, better known as Dirk Nowitzki, was born on June 19, 1978 in Würzburg, Germany.
Dirk came from a sports family.
His mother Helga Nowitzki was a professional basketball player, his father Jörg Wegner was a handball player and his older sister Silki Nowitzki was a local running champion.
Before playing basketball, Dirk played handball and tennis and even managed to get into the German junior tennis rankings but he quickly got tired of being called a "freak" due to his height.
At the age of 15, Dirk decides to join the local basketball team called DJK Würzburg.
From a very early age Dirk attracted the attention of former German player Holger Geschwindner as his talent and he offered to be his personal trainer with individual training 2 to 3 times a week.
Dirk and his parents readily accepted the proposal and Holger began to prepare a training schedule in which he focused on throwing and passing exercises, avoiding weight training and tactical training as much as possible. In addition, he encouraged Dirk to learn to play an instrument and read books, which would complete Dirk's personality.
After a year of individual training, Holger was so impressed with Dirk's progress that he told him the following:
You most now decide whether you want to play against the best in the world or just stay a local hero in Germany. If you choose the latter, we will stop trainning immediatily, because nobody can prevent that anymore. But if you want to play against the best, we have to train daily.
Dirk and his parents discussed this issue for two days and ended up agreeing on daily training, thus choosing the path to an eventual international career.
Holger put Dirk in training with the DJK Würzburg first team every day.
In the summer of 1994 Dirk officially became a member of the first team of DJK Würzburg.
At this time, DJK Würzburg was playing in the South division of the German second division.
Pit Sathl, the team's coach, saw Dirk as an outside striker rather than an inside scoring center.
In his first season, Dirk was often on the bench and due to having poor grades at school he was forced to "fight" to improve his grades instead of focusing on improving his basketball.
DJK Würzburg finished a disappointing 6th out of 12 teams.
In the 1985-86 season, Dirk established himself as the team's starter and quickly became a regular double-digit scorer.
Dirk Bauermann after seeing Dirk Nowitzki score 24 points in a game said:
Dirk Nowitzki is the greatest German basketball talent of the last 10 or 15 years.
In the 1996-97 season, Dirk finished averaging 19.4 points per game and led his team to second place. However, he did not get promotion to the first division.
In the 1997-98 season, Dirk finished his studies and was forced to do military service from September 1, 1997 to June 30, 1998. However, he can continue to play, finishing the season as the league's top scorer with an average of 28.2 points per game and earned promotion to the German top flight.
He was also named "German Baskteballer of the Year" by Basket Magazine.
All this made Dirk start to attract attention from foreign clubs.
A year later Dirk participated in Nike's "Hoop Heroes Tour" where he played against NBA stars Charles Barkley and Scotti Pippen.
Dirk was so popular in these games that Charles Barkley said:
The boy is genius. If he wants to get into the NBA, he can call me.
On March 29, 1998, Dirk was chosen for the Nike Hoop Summit which was one of the top talent programs in the NBA.
Here, there was a game between international players versus US players and Dirk scored 33 points, won 14 rebounds and even made 3 steals, beating future NBA players like Rashard Lewis and Al Harrington.
After this game numerous European and NBA clubs wanted to recruit him.
This summer Dirk decides to venture into the NBA Draft after having rejected several proposals from US universities.
Dirk was picked in 9th place by the Milwaukee Bucks and would eventually be traded to the Dallas Mavericks in a multi-team deal.
With this feat Dirk became the 4th German to play in the NBA.
That same year Steve Nash was also signed by the Dallas Mavericks and they quickly became friends.
At the time, Dallas had not been in the play-offs since 1990.
The start of the 1998-99 season was postponed by the NVA and without knowing what would happen Dirk returned to DJK Würzburg and played 13 games until an agreement was reached between both parties.
When the season started Dirk was playing as a forward and felt immense difficulties ending up "defrauding" expectations as he was the 9th pick in the draft.
Supporters even created an "insult" that was "Irk Nowitzki", removing the D that stands for Defense in the basketball world.
He would finish the season with just 8.2 points and 3.4 rebounds in 20.4 minutes per game.
The Dallas Mavericks have only won 18 of their 50 regular season games.
Dirk reflecting on this time confessed:
I was so frustrated that I even thought about going back to Germany.
In the 1999-2000 season, the Dallas Mavericks were sold to Mark Cuban for $280 million.
Cuban quickly restructured the team, including purchasing a Boeing 747 plane for the team's travel.
After all this investment Dirk praised Mark Cuban:
He created the perfect environment...we just have to go out and win.
In season two Dirk showed significant improvement finishing averaging 17.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game in 35.8 minutes.
He was eventually named runner-up at the NBA Most Improved Player Awards and was called up to participate in the three-point contest becoming the tallest player to participate and even made the NBA All-Star Sophomore.
Despite all these personal achievements, the Dallas Mavericks were left out of the play offs having finished the regular season with 40 wins and 42 losses.
In the 2000-2001 season, Dirk continued to improve his averages finished with 21.8 points, 9.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game.
Due to his growing importance in the team, he joined Finley as a starting total for 82 games of the season.
Dirk became the first Mavericks player to be nominated for an NBA All-Star vote.
After recording 53 wins and 29 losses in the regular season, the Dallas Mavericks qualified for the play-offs. However they would end up losing in the second round against the San Antonio Spurs but in Game 5 Dirk scored 42 points and had 18 rebounds.
Before the 2001-2002 season began, Dirk renewed his contract for 6 years in the amount of 60 million dollars, becoming the 2nd highest paid German athlete behind Michael Schumacher.
Dirk continued to improve his averages with 23.4 points, 9.9 rebounds and 2.4 assists.
The Dallas Mavericks qualified for the play-offs with 57 and 25 losses in the regular season.
In the first round they beat the Minnesota Timberwolves but were eventually eliminated in the second round by the Sacramento Kings.
Dirk received an award from Gazzetta dello Sport magazine as European Basketballer of the Year.
In the 2002-2003 season, Dirk again raised his averages by scoring 25.1 points, 9.9 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.
He led the Mavericks to a franchise-high 60-22 record, finishing in 6th place in the Conference.
In the first round, the Portland Trail Blazors won by 4-3 in which Dirk hit a triple placed the result in 100:94 with 1:21 of the end.
At the end of the game Dirk said:
I wasn't ready to go on vacation so soon.
This season the Mavericks reached the Western Conference Finals but lost against the San Antonio Spurs.
In the 2003-2004 season, Dirk started playing as a pivot and ended up having more focus on his decisive role.
For the first time in his career his averages dropped to 21.8 points, 8.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game but he still led the Mavericks in points, rebounds, steals and blocks.
He was eventually named to the All-Star Game and the All-NBA Third Team.
The Mavericks would eventually be eliminated in the play-offs by the Sacramento Kings.
In the 2004-2005 season, the Maverocks underwent a revamp.
In the midst of these changes Dirk stepped up his game and averaged 26.1 points, 9.7 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and 3.1 steals per game.
In the game against the Houston Rockets on December 2, 2004, Dirk scored 53 points in an overtime Mavericks win.
The Dallas Mavericks had below expectation of the playoffs. In the first round they won the Houston Rockets but in the Western Conference semifinals they lost against the Phoenix Suns.
Dirk was first voted to the All-NBA First Team and placed 3rd for league MVP.
The 2005-2006 season was a great season as the Dallas Mavericks reached the NBA Grand Finals for the first time.
Dirk guided the Mavericks to a 60-win season averaging 26.6 points, 3 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game.
On the way to the final they eliminated the Memphis Grizzlies, San Antonio Spurs and the Phoenix Suns.
After the walk to the finals ESPN columnist Bill Simmons wrote:
Dirk is playing at higher level then any forward since Larry Bird.
The Dallas Mavericks would go on to lose the NBA Finals to the Miami Heat 4-2 despite starting to win the series 2-0.
The 2006-2007 season became the 5th player in NBA history to achieve 50% effectiveness on the 2-point shot, 40% on the 3-point shot, and 90% on the free-throw shot for the season.
He finished the season averaging 24.6 points, 8.9 rebounds and 3.4 assists.
However, the Dallas MAvericks would eventually be eliminated in the play-offs by the Golden State Warriors.
Dirk would win the NBA MVP award, becoming the first European in history to do so.
The 2007-2008 season was marked by another very early exit from the play-offs, as they would end up being eliminated in the first round by the New Orleans Hornets.
In the 2008-2009 season Dirk finished averaging 25.9 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists.
He was the 4th leading scorer in the NBA and had his 4th selection to the All-NBA Star Game.
The Mavericks were once again eliminated from the play-offs by the San Antonio Spurs.
In the 2009-2010 season Dirk became the 34th player in NBA history to reach the 20,000-point mark, finishing the regular season with averages of 25 points, 7.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1 block.
For the third consecutive time the Dallas Mavericks were eliminated in the first round of the play-offs this time by the San Antonio Spurs.
At the end of this season Dirk became a free agent but would eventually sign a new 4-year contract for $80 million.
In the 2010-2011 season Dirk managed to reach the NBA Finals for the 2nd time during this run they defeated Portland, Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder.
In the final, they faced the Miami Heat again and won 3-2.
Dirk was named the NBA Finals MVP.
In the 2011-2012 season, which was shortened due to the lockout, the Dallas Mavericks were eliminated in the first stage of the play-offs and the streak of 11 seasons scoring at least 1500 points ended due to Dirk only being able to score 1342 points this season.
The 2012-2013 season was a bad season for Dirk as he missed the first 27 league games due to a knee operation in October 2012.
He returned to the pavilion on December 13, 2012 in a game against the San Antonio Spurs.
In January 2013, Dirk and his teammates made a pact not to shave their beard until the team reaches 0.5 (this means at least having the same number of wins and losses).
Due to this pact they began to be called "The Bread Bros".
Dirk, on April 14, 2013, reached the 25,000 point mark, becoming the 17th player in NBA history to achieve this mark.
The Mavericks ended the season with 40 wins and 40 losses and ended up missing the playoffs, thus ending a streak of 12 consecutive years going to the playoffs.
In the 2013-2014 season Dirk returned to qualify the Mavericks for the playoffs, however they would end up losing in the first round against the San Antonio Spurs.
Dirk reached 10th place on the NBA scoring list by reaching 26715 career points.
In the 2014-2015 season Dirk renewed his contract for 3 years with a value of 25 million dollars.
In collective terms, the Mavericks qualified for the playoffs in 7th place with 50 wins and 32 losses, where they ended up losing to the Houston Rockets.
In personal terms, Dirk went from 10th place on the NBA All-Time Scorers list to 7th place.
This season he recorded his 10,000th career rebound and his 28,000th point scored.
In the 2015-2016 season, the Mavericks qualified for the playoffs and lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
In personal terms, Dirk reached the 29,000 career point mark and reached the 15th place in the list of rebounds in NBA history.
On July 27, 2016, Dirk renewed with the Mavericks.
This season he missed several games due to an Achilles tendon injury.
On March 7, 2017, Dirk became the 6th player in NBA history to reach 30,000 career points as well as becoming the 1st international player to reach this milestone while playing for a single team.
At the end of the 2016-2017 season, Dirk activated the option to become a free agent not to leave the Mavericks but to allow the team to recruit him for less money so they could get more players.
In the 2017-2018 season, Dirk re-signed for the Mavericks to a 2-year contract worth $10 million.
On February 5, 2018, Dirk became the 6th NBA player to reach the 50,000-minute mark.
On February 28, Dirk reached the mark of 31 thousand career points.
On March 17, he played the 1463rd game of his career, becoming the 5th player in NBA history with the most games played.
He ended up suffering an ankle injury which made the season come to an early end for him.
The Mavericks again missed the playoffs with 24 wins and 58 losses in the regular season.
The 2018-2019 season would be the last season in Dirk's career.
His "debut" this season took place on December 13, 2018 where he set a new NBA record for most seasons played on a single team.
This record belonged to Kobe Bryant with 20 seasons with the Lakers but is now held by Dirk with 21 seasons with the Mavericks.
On March 18, 2019 Dirk became the NBA's 6th all-time leading scorer.
In their last home game, the Mavericks prepare a ceremony in honor of their 21 seasons with the club with Scottie Pippen, Charles Barkley, Larry Bird, Detlef Schrempf and Shawn Kemp.
