Dirk Nowitzki: Graceful Aging Should Boost Mavs F Legacy

Dirk Nowitzki deserves credit for managing to pull off a feat very few are able to in professional sports: growing old without becoming significantly worse.

Dirk Nowitzki is defying Father Time right now, and nobody seems to be noticing. Of course, dedicated fans of the Dallas Mavericks are seeing what Dirk is doing, and hardcore NBA fans probably are too.

But right now the only old player getting any attention at all is Kobe Bryant, for ruthlessly murdering efficiency and smart basketball in Los Angeles on a nightly basis. Despite Kevin Durant‘s concerns about it, there is reason to cover what’s happening with the Lakers right now–anything Kobe does is going to be major news. That’s just how it is.

More from Dallas Mavericks

But that doesn’t mean he should be the only longtime veteran to get coverage. Tim Duncan is still chugging along in San Antonio, and still nearly averaging a double-double at the advanced age of 39. But even Duncan is getting more coverage than everybody’s favorite big German Maverick.

Dirk is currently scoring 17.5 points per game, good enough for 31st in the NBA. Nowitzki is also hauling in 7.1 rebounds per game, and shooting 50.4 percent from the field and 44.6 percent from beyond the arc while leading a solid playoff contender.

Not bad for a 37-year-old with a whole lot of NBA miles on him. Bryant is often attributed with playing more than just about anybody in the NBA these days, but Nowitzki has played just 11 less regular season games than Kobe.

Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports /

Dirk could realistically catch him if recent trends keep up. Kobe’s missed 123 games over the past two full NBA seasons, while Dirk has played in all but seven regular season games the Mavericks have been a part of.

Bryant does have 80 more postseason games under his belt than Nowitzki, meaning in terms of total basketball he’s maybe a season further in. That’s not counting anything like the Olympics or Eurobasket, which might make the gap a bit closer.

But still, it’s fair to say that the NBA mileage Dirk and Kobe have put on over the years is fairly equivalent. Kobe may have more games played, but he entered the NBA in 1996. Dirk didn’t start in the Association until two years later in 1998, meaning he’s played almost as much in less time.

And where Kobe is dooming the Lakers to be a bad team for as long as he’s around, Dirk is lifting the Mavericks up to the upper echelon of the Western Conference.

Dallas is currently tied for fourth in their conference with the Memphis Grizzlies, despite losing DeAndre Jordan to the most bizarre free agency situation ever and being generally considered too old to compete in the vicious West.

A huge part of the Mavs success this season, as he’s been for the past 17 seasons, is Dirk Nowitzki. That has to mean something for Dirk’s legacy as compared to Kobe’s or anybody else.

There will always be the rings argument, that championships define greatness in the NBA. There may be some merit to that thought, but Charles Barkley is no less great than Luke Walton because one of them won rings and the other did not.

Dirk Nowitzki has been a dependable, positive contributor to the Mavericks for his entire career. The same can no longer be said about Kobe Bryant. In 47,209 career minutes, Kobe added 172.3 wins to the Lakers, according to win shares. In both this season and the 2013-14 season, he subtracted wins from his team.

More from Hoops Habit

In 45,390 career minutes with the Mavericks, Nowitzki added 194.2 wins as per win shares. He’s never recorded a season with negative wins added. Shouldn’t that matter more to a player’s overall greatness than just the number of championship teams they were a part of?

If Dirk had gotten eight consecutive seasons with a player as good as Shaquille O’Neal, he’d probably have a few more rings too.

But even without eight years of Shaq, Dirk has managed to create an NBA legacy that deserves to be on the very highest of pedestals with Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan, despite often being left out of the conversation.

The truly remarkable thing is that he’s not yet done adding to it.

Home/Dallas Mavericks

Dirk Nowitzki’s Graceful Aging Should Boost His Legacy

By Ti Windisch | Dec 2, 2015

Dirk Nowitzki deserves credit for managing to pull off a feat very few are able to in professional sports: growing old without becoming significantly worse.

More from Hoops Habit