2018 NBA free agency grades: Mavericks bringing back Dirk Nowitzki

In a move that surprised literally nobody, the Dallas Mavericks have brought back the greatest player in franchise history, Dirk Nowitzki.

Dirk Nowitzki will continue his phenomenal career for at least one more season, agreeing to a one-year deal with the Dallas Mavericks worth $5 million, according to Yahoo! Sports‘ Shams Charania.

This was a deal many expected to happen long before July 1. Since entering the league back in 1998, Dallas has been Nowitzki’s home, and he’ll look to finish off his Hall of Fame career as a Maverick for life.

During the 2017-18 season, Dirk certainly wasn’t the perennial All-Star of yesteryear, but he was productive in limited minutes.

Even at 39 years of age, he still managed to start in 77 games, averaging 12.0 points and 5.7 rebounds in 24.7 minutes of action.

The beauty of Dirk Nowitzki is that his game has never been predicated on the physical gifts some NBA players have been blessed with.

That one-legged jumper of his is as wet as it was the year he won MVP (2007), and because of a stroke that’s been honed over two decades of giving opponents the business, Dirk was able to maintain an efficient level of play, with a shooting line of .456/.409/.898.

Even though the NBA has seen a dramatic shift in style of play since the beginning of the decade, his game remains the same. Pick-and-pop action, coupled with mismatches in the post and around the elbow that lead to his patented fade away.

More from Dallas Mavericks

• 3 NBA superstars with legacies on the line heading into 2023–24
• NBA Trades: This Mavs-Nets deal may lead to Dallas adding a third star
• NBA Trades: This Mavericks-Pelicans swap would boost Dallas’ frontline
• Ranking the 4 riskiest boom-or-bust NBA teams in 2023–24
• 5 NBA players facing do-or-die 2023–2024 seasons

He may not receive the same amount of touches as in years prior, but Nowitzki is still plenty capable of getting a bucket.

Despite what a lack of athleticism has done for Nowitzki’s offense, it’s hindered him plenty on the defensive end, especially at his advanced age.

More often than not, the Mavericks are forced to give Dirk the Stephen Curry treatment, hiding him on the opposing team’s worst offensive player.

He creates difficulties for Dallas in that he’s proven too slow-footed to switch off screens and guard out on the perimeter, but because of the excellence of coach Rick Carlisle, those challenges are minimized, leading the Mavericks to rank 12th in points allowed in 2018.

Everyone around the league knows Dirk Nowitzki wasn’t brought back to Dallas because he’s the missing piece to a championship team. Sadly, those days are over.

For owner Mark Cuban, bringing back Dirk was about showing loyalty to a guy who’s spent nearly half his life playing in the heart of Texas, giving everything he has to the team and the city.

In the mid-to-late 2000s when the Mavs were suffering gut-wrenching playoff defeats year after year, Nowitzki could’ve decided to take his talents elsewhere. After all, would anyone have blamed him?

Thankfully, he didn’t go elsewhere, and in 2011 all the hours in the gym and the heartache in the locker room culminated in the first championship in Mavericks history, with Dirk being the Finals MVP.

The team’s all-time leader in a bevy of stats including games played, minutes and points, Nowitzki is unquestionably the greatest Maverick in franchise history whose jersey should already be hanging in the rafters.

To play the entirety of one’s career in a single uniform is something not many legends have on their resume, but for Nowitzki, it always seemed like a foregone conclusion.

This deal wasn’t about wins and losses, it was about making sure Dirk’s wild ride from probable bust to one of the all-time greats gets the storybook ending it deserves.

Next: 2018 NBA free agency tracker: Grades for every deal so far

Grade: A+