Dallas Mavericks incoming sophomore point guard Jalen Brunson is just one of the hundreds of individuals within the NBA whose lives were somehow touched by the legendary Dirk Nowitzki. The 22-year-old, son of former NBA journeyman Rick Brunson, recently shared a very endearing moment between himself, his dad, and Dirk — one that will surely stay with him for the rest of his career.

“The moment I realized – wow, I’m in the NBA – was at a home game, when my dad was in town,” Brunson says, via Eddie Sefko of Mavs.com. “He would sit right across from the bench (in warmups). And Dirk would get the ball and have his back to me and look toward my dad and say: ‘this is the same stuff I used to do to you when you were in the league.’

“And my dad would start laughing. It was a great moment. I was like, wow, my dad did this and now I’m doing this. This is special.”

Rick Brunson entered the league just one season before Dirk, and their careers intersected on numerous occasions. Brunson would eventually call it a career after nine seasons in the league, after playing with no less than eight different NBA teams.

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As for his son, Jalen, the former Villanova standout was selected 33rd overall by the Mavs last season — some 21 years after his father had started his own career in the league back in 1997. Fortunately for the younger Brunson, he had the privilege of having Nowitzki as his teammate, even for just one season.