Dirk Nowitzki: The Ageless Wonder

By Conor Duffy

There’s a reason why every foreign big man who is seven feet tall and can shoot is called, “The Next Dirk Nowitzki.”

All of these players who have these unrealistic expectations set up for them all failed becoming the “Next Dirk.” There is a simple reason for this, there is only one Dirk Nowitzki and he is still amazing to this date.

The 37­-year­-old German superstar is the seventh leading scorer of all time in NBA history and is the all-time leading scorer for an internationally born player. Arguably the best player to be born overseas, Dirk is best known for his one-legged unblockable fadeaways which is the reason why he has dominated for so many years.

After being drafted 9th overall in the 1998 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks coming straight out of high school, which he was highly criticized for, he was dealt on draft day for Robert Traylor, a power forward from Michigan that the Bucks coveted highly. This trade is considered as one of the worst of all time because of the opposite ways their careers went. His first couple of years didn’t exactly go as planned. He showed flashes of potential on the offensive side but his defense was so lackluster that he obtained the nickname, “Irk Nowitzki” because he played no D.

His struggles early on almost caused Dirk to go back to Germany and play there because he felt he wasn’t good enough for NBA competition. That offseason, Dirk worked and worked to become a formidable defender and he eventually did. This extra work to help get his defense better led to more minutes for him and the offense came on and he earned his 1st of 13 All­Star appearances.

Dirk then became one of the most fun players in the NBA to watch. His one-legged moonshot fadeaways always seemed to go in and everyone loved to watch it.

The Dallas Mavericks led by their unquestioned leader Dirk Nowitzki, made the playoffs in the superior western conference 14 out of the last 15 seasons and the only time they missed the playoffs, Dirk missed 29 games with a knee injury.

In Dirk’s era he battled other great power forwards like Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett and these three players will all go down as some of the greatest players to ever put on the uniform. Dirk led the Dallas Mavericks to an NBA Finals appearance but fell in six games to Dwyane Wade’s Miami Heat.

Dirk’s greatest season came in 2006­07 when he won his only ever MVP award. He averaged 24.6 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game. Dirk’s greatest performance however came in the 2011 playoffs when he did the closest thing to putting the team on his back. He averaged an insane 27.7 points per game and made record 38(!!!) f free throws in a row that postseason.

In the Finals that year, Dirk’s Mavericks had to face LeBron James’s mighty Heat and their Big 3. Dirk wasn’t intimidated and even while battling the flu, dropped 26 points a game and made two clutch shots to lead the Mavericks to the NBA Championship that year by beating the Heat in 6 games.

Even this year, when the Mavericks were seen as a fringe contender for the eighth seed, but Dirk has the Mavericks right in the midst of the playoff picture. The banged up Mavericks are 8­4 early on and are currently tied for the three seed in the West.

Year in and year out Dirk amazes everyone by just never letting up and is an incredible leader and team player. He seems to never age as he hasn’t averaged less than 19 points since 2000, made 13 All­Star teams, made 12 All­NBA teams, and is one of the only members of the 50­40­90 club (50 percent from the field, 40 percent from three, and 90 percent from the free throw line.)

When it is all said and done, Dirk will go down as one of the greatest scorers ever and one of the best players of his era. The future first ballot Hall of Famer and greatest Maverick ever holds all of these records for them: games played, points, rebounds, field goals, three­point field goals, free throws, and of course, wins. And the scariest part about it is Dirk looks like he can do it for at least 10 more years.