Dallas Mavericks players knew that NBA icon Dirk Nowitzki was just a few points shy of passing Wilt Chamberlain on the all-time scoring list. Yet, head coach Rick Carlisle shared that there wasn't much hype in the Mavericks' locker room in the days leading up to the milestone.

Per Dwain Price of mavs.com, this didn't mean that Mavericks players are taking Nowitzki for granted. Rather, they have so much respect for Nowitzki and what he has done to the game. They didn't want to ruin or jinx the moment. Rather than talk about it, the team just handled its game preparations as it would under any other normal circumstance… even though this was hardly a normal circumstance for Dirk Nowitzki:

The German reached the milestone in the first quarter of the Mavs' game against the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday. Below is the basket which made Nowitzki the sixth all-time leading scorer in NBA history.

Not long after the feat, the Mavericks played a tribute video for the 21-year veteran.

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Per Fox Sports Southwest:

Michael Jordan, who is fifth on the all-time list, is ahead of Dirk Nowitzki by more than 800 points. LeBron James, who sits in fourth place, is the only active player in the top five.

Without a doubt, Nowitzki will go down as one of the all-time greats who has ever dribbled and shot a basketball.