A lot of cool things have happened to Dirk Nowitzki since he retired from the NBA in 2019.
The Dallas Mavericks retired his No. 41 jersey. They also named a street after him that fronts American Airlines Center.
And on Sunday, with Nowitzki Way serving as a backdrop, the Mavs unveiled a statue of Nowitzki that basically summed up what he has meant to this franchise.
“I’m so glad it’s finally here and we got to see it,” Nowitzki said. “It was emotional when the thing went up. I felt like the sun was just perfect today that it’s shining right on it.
“I’m so happy that my family is here to witness it (and) my parents are alive to see it. So it was a very, very cool day and I enjoyed it.”
The statue depicts Nowitzki’s signature move, the one-legged fadeaway jumper that he used to terrorize defenders on his way to becoming a 14-time All-Star and the NBA’s No. 6 all-time leading scorer. Nowitzki said the shot was developed out of necessity and was engineered by his long-time coach and mentor, Holger Geschwindner, to advance his game.
“I think I started shooting it in my late 20s, early 30s,” Nowitzki said. “I lost a step, I wasn’t as fast to the rim anymore and when I got fouled how many times a game I had to come up with a shot that I could still shoot and be efficient and be an effective scorer even in my older age and that shot worked perfect.
“It didn’t take a lot of effort out of me. All I had to do was pump and step back and then shoot over it. It’s kind of amazing now that shot is the statue – something that sort of came later on in my career, but something that really helped me there in my 30s and late 30s to still be a decent scorer. I’m happy that we decided to make it the one-legger. It’s going to live on forever out there.”
Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James was certainly impressed with the statue.
“First of all, before the (unveiling) of what the statue will look like, I already knew what the statue was going to look like,” James said. “It had to be a fadeaway on one leg. It had to be. No question about it.”
James went on to say: “Dirk is a legend. He is an icon. I think he is the greatest international player ever. He’s right there with Manu (Ginobili). What he brought here, what he brought to the city, that boy was cold, man. Dirk was cold.
“He revolutionized what a stretch four big looked like. Put the ball on the ground, finish above the rim, in his earlier years. He just mastered that in between games as his career got a couple years down the line. Then, he started taking it out to the three-point line. You could never block his shot, because he shot it behind his head, kind of like Larry Bird.”
Nowitzki said it was kind of lucky that the inscription at the bottom of the statue, “Loyalty never fades away” comprises 21 letters, the same number of seasons he spent with the Mavericks.
Coach Jason Kidd, who was a teammate of Nowitzki’s when the Mavs captured the 2011 NBA title, agreed that Nowitzki revolutionized the game and added that it was “very cool” to see him become the first player in Mavs history to have a statue in his honor.
“We’ll remember Christmas 2022 standing out there seeing the statue, seeing Dirk,” Kidd said. “It’s pretty cool for a kid to come over from Germany a young man and have a dream of playing in the league and being able to do the things that he did on the floor and off the floor at a very high level. It was cool to see.
“It looks like him. I think just the signature move of that one-legged shot — to capture his career. When you see all the long strides that he did working, all the different techniques that Holger worked with him on, I think they got it right. They picked the right move. I don’t think they were going to use the swipe or him passing the ball. You see his stats on passing? He was a ball hog.”
Kidd had to laugh at his own comment about the player affectionately known at the Tall Baller From The G. Then again, never in a million years did Nowitzki think his career would take off and soar to extraordinary heights the way it did.
When the Mavs acquired Nowitzki in a Draft Day trade with the Milwaukee Bucks in 1998, he mainly was just trying to have a decent career in the NBA.
“When I came here at (age) 19, 20, I wasn’t even sure if I could make it in this league,” Nowitzki said. “It’s a huge jump for me at the time from Wurzburg (Germany) straight to the NBA. (I had) no college, no really major clubbing in Europe, so it’s a huge jump and it was hard.
“It was hard at the beginning, the culture differences, the language barrier. The style of play was so different and more fast and athletic, so I was struggling.”
Lakers coach Darvin Ham described Nowitzki as “just raw talent and skill at that size”, and difficult to defend because he could stretch the defense with his ability to drain three-pointers.
“I think he ushered in a new wave of big guys who were able to function at a high level on the perimeter,” Ham said. “(He was) impossible to guard, and that jump shot is going up to the sky creating all type of rain.
“I’m happy for him. He’s a staple in this community, a staple around the league. I saw the statue coming in and it’s perfect, the one-leg, lean-back fadeaway.”
Nowitzki struggled early in his career to the point where he thought about quitting the game and pursuing a career in something else.
“My first couple of years it was tough and I had to fight through it,” he said. “And then to look back now 20-something years later and have all these things, it’s amazing.
“It’s been a fun three years in retirement now with so many unforgettable moments for my family really, with the jersey retirement — even in Germany a jersey retirement my last game — a street ceremony and now this. There’s been so many amazing things coming my way and I’m very, very humble and appreciative of all that, but I’m also glad now it’s hopefully all behind us.”
Kidd, the Mavs players, numerous Mavs front office employees, dignitaries and fans were on hand at Victory Plaza to witness the statue unveiling. Point guard Luka Doncic said: “Oh, it was brilliant. I’m just really happy for him. He deserves all the things that are happening to him and it was amazing. The statue looks amazing and he deserves it.”
Kidd said the statue outside of AAC sums up Nowitzki’s career.
“I think if you look at the beginning of this, no one would have expected he would have a statue or a street or his jersey retired,” Kidd said. “So it just shows the hard work that he put in and the team around him, to help him achieve those 20 something years at a high level. It’s really cool history. As he said, not just now, 500 years from now that statue will be here or in front of a new arena somewhere.”
Mavs governor Mark Cuban was at the forefront of all the cool things which has come Nowitzki’s way, including the jersey retirement, the street and now the statue.
“Is there going to be a garden — Nowitzki Garden,” Kidd asked. “But I did make you a promise, and it’s a promise that gives me joy to deliver on because you earned it on.
“You earned it for every fan of the Dallas Mavericks. You earned it for every fan of Dirk Nowitzki.”
Nowitzki said on some level he was involved with the details of the statue.
“I didn’t want to be involved on a daily basis, but obviously I had to be involved a little bit,” he said. “I flew to Chicago a few times to see the artist, I got all the measurements. It’s a lot of things that go into a jump shot.
“Like Holger mentioned in the video, it’s a lot of details that go into that. So to explain all that to artists and engineers, it was a fun project for everybody involved the last few years and we’re happy and thrilled it’s finally up and running.”
Twitter: @DwainPrice
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