The Dallas Cowboys opened their season against the New York Giants on Sunday afternoon by paying homage to a Dallas sports legend.

Mavericks icon Dirk Nowitzki received a video tribute and an accompanying standing ovation by the crowd as the Cowboys honored Nowitzki's career prior to kickoff:

Nowitzki spent all of his 21-year career with the Mavs, and he retired as the all-time leading scorer in Mavericks history while also leading the franchise to their first championship in 2011.

The Mavericks drafted Nowitzki out of Germany with the ninth pick in the 1998 NBA Draft, though he would not make his NBA debut until February of the following year. From there, Nowitzki took off.

Dirk averaged 17.5 points per game in his first full season in the league, and by his fourth season he would become a perennial All-Star. In fact, Nowitzki made 11 consecutive All-Star appearances between 2002 and 2012, and he was named NBA MVP in 2007 after leading Dallas a franchise-record 67 wins.

The majority of Nowitzki's career had been filled with playoff disappointments. The Mavs were defeated by the San Antonio Spurs in seven games in the 2003 Western Conference Finals, and they were stunned in the first round of the 2007 playoffs by the eighth-seeded Golden State Warriors, the first time in NBA history that an eight seed bested a No. 1 seed in a best-of-seven series.

However, Nowitzki would find redemption in 2011 after he led the Mavericks on one of the unlikeliest title runs in NBA history, culminating with a victory over the “Big Three” Miami Heat in the NBA Finals.

Though his career is over, Nowitzki will forever be remembered as a legend in Dallas.