Dirk Nowitzki, after 21 legendary seasons in the NBA, has officially retired as one of the greatest to ever lace them up.
As a sweet-shooting seven-footer with an unguardable fadeaway jumper, Dirk was a terror in his prime. He delivered a lone championship to the Mavs in thrilling fashion by defeating the despised “Big 3” Miami Heat in 2011.
This seas has been something of a farewell tour for Dirk Nowitzki, though it is a bit more low-key than the more bombastic and in-your-face “One Last Dance” that Dwyane Wade has been enjoying throughout his final year.
With both of them named honorary members of the All-Star team this season, it seemed as if Dirk was going to retire this year. However, he never officially announced it until Tuesday following their game against the Phoenix Suns –which was Dirk's final regular season game in Dallas of his career.
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who originally broke the news of Nowitzki’s pending retirement, Dirk will remain with the organization in a “unique role:”
Teammates know Nowitzki wants to remain around the Mavericks upon retirement, and the franchise has been planning a “unique role” for him. https://t.co/gD9hoJ4L2X
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 10, 2019
Now, of course, that is incredibly vague and could mean anything from “new team mascot” to “German translator” to “hair consultant,” but with a young squad headlined by Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis, it seems likely that Dirk Nowitzki will be kept on as some sort of advisor to those two top-tier European talents.
Now is not the time to speculate, though. One of the greatest to ever play the game is hanging it up, let’s not cry because it’s ending, but rather smile because it happened at all.
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