Dallas Mavericks star forward Dirk Nowitzki will return for his 20th NBA season despite a painful 33-49 season that put the team 11th in the Western Conference, according to Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com.
“I think my body will tell me when it's time,” said Nowitzki. “…I'm going to play next year as hard as I can.”
The 7-footer would not say if next season would be the last of his illustrious career, claiming that it will be a matter of how his body handles the rigor of a full 82-game schedule.
“I'll just leave all that open,” Nowitzki told ESPN's Tim MacMahon, who added that “if his body feels as good as it does now, he would want to keep playing.”
Nowitzki is only 1,159 points shy of Wilt Chamberlain for the No. 5 spot in the all-time scoring list, but wasn't sure if that was an attainable goal due to his current role in the offense.
“That's well within reach, but I'm not sure it's within reach in one season,” Nowitzki told MacMahon.
The German international totaled 769 points this season, his lowest since his rookie year. It's also been the first season since his rookie campaign in which he's played less than 30 minutes per game. Add in the nagging injuries he's dealt with all season long that only allowed him to play in 54 games, and the lower scoring totals add up.
His current average of 14.2 points per game would be enough to pass Chamberlain, but he would need to play every game of next season to surpass him, putting him five points past “The Stilt” as the fifth most prolific scorer in NBA history.
Regardless of his personal accolades, the Mavericks talisman showed the ultimate sign of unequivocal loyalty to the franchise.
“At the end of the day, I just can't imagine myself in a different uniform,” Nowitzki told MacMahon.
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