Dallas Mavericks: Dirk Enjoys Milestones, But That’s Not What Keeps Him Going
By Cole Mentzel
Dirk Nowitzki recently surpassed another legend on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, but’s that not why he keeps coming back to help the Dallas Mavericks.
Dirk Nowitzki is currently competing in his 18th season — all of which have been with the Dallas Mavericks. Throughout the years, he has set numerous records for the Mavs and the NBA in general, and on Wednesday, he climbed to even greater heights.
In the past few seasons, Nowitzki has passed other legends like Hakeem Olajuwon, Oscar Robertson and Dominique Wilkins. As he approached the last player with 20,000+ points, fans knew that it could be the last time he moved up on the list so it was set up to be a special moment.
Nowitzki came into the second night of a back-to-back needing only 10 points to pass NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal for sixth on the All-Time scoring list. His big-game of 22 points, five rebounds and three assists, including the game-winning layup in the final seconds, moved him up to 28,609 points on his career and helped him make the pass.
His next big scoring accomplishment would be 30,000 points and the next player on the scoring list is Wilt Chamberlain with 31,419 points.
Though Dirk is honored whenever he achieves a great feat such as moving up on the scoring list, that’s not the reason why he still plays basketball today.
In an article by Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News, Nowitzki had the following to say:
"“That’s not something that inspires me to keep going. When it’s done, it’s done. I’m not going to say, ‘It’s not fun anymore and the body’s not holding up, but I got to play one more year to reach this.’ I won’t be dragging myself just to chase more records. That’s not what I stand for. We’ll just see how the next couple years go and then I’ll know when it’s done.”"
Nowitzki is all about playing the game because of the love he has for it. He enjoys getting to contribute and help make the team better. He has explained his unwillingness to stay around just to break records in the past and he did so again in the quote above.
As long as he is still good enough to play, he is going to. Dirk respects the game and everything that comes with it, but he knows that Father Time is undefeated and that his body will ultimately tell him when his playing time is over.
One thing that has allowed Nowitzki to stay in such great shape at age 37 is his offseason workouts and training sessions. There are many athletes that are either forced to retire or fall to a low-level of play by the time they reach their mid-30s but Nowitzki, just like Tim Duncan, has stayed healthy and that has prolonged his career. He went into a little more detail on exactly what he does in a blog post that you can read here.
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Throughout the years, Nowitzki has continued to stay in good shape and that will allow him to break more and more records as his career closes. However, he has made it clear that he won’t stay around for anything extra. That means it’s important to cherish everything he does now, because sometime in the future, we won’t get to see the master of the one-legged fadeaway in action on the court.