With his time in the NBA coming to a close, Dallas Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki is now starting to give more thought to life outside the confines of the basketball court.

Nowitzki recently spoke to David Aldridge of The Athletic, and shared how his life may have turned out had he not taken up basketball.

“I’d probably be a painter,” Dirk Nowitzki said Tuesday. “My dad had a painting business growing up, painting houses, and he always wanted me to take over the business. When I was like 14, 15, he had me work a couple of times on vacation.”

Dirk went on to share his experience as a young painter with his father, and the emotional circumstances of how the family business recently came to its conclusion.

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“And it’s hard work” he explained. “It’s hard work. It’s a grind. I was like, ‘Let me try this basketball thing. I’ll come back to you.’ And I never came back to him. And he, finally, a couple of years ago — my sister didn’t want to do it, either — so he ended up selling it a couple of years ago, which was pretty emotional for the family. Because he’d had it since he was little. And his dad had it.”

Dirk would have definitely been a great painter, as his 7-foot frame would have allowed him access to some hard-to-reach areas without the use of a ladder.

Nonetheless, we have to thank the basketball gods for plucking him out of his father's enterprise, and thereby treating us to the experience of having to witness one of the greatest big men to ever play the sport.