Nowitzki frustrated, but hoping to be pain-free once his Achillles heals

DALLAS – These are obviously some very frustrating times for Dirk Nowitzki.

As of now, Nowitzki’s body isn’t doing what he wants it to do, which means the Dallas Mavericks’ all-time leading scorer has to sit on the sidelines in street clothes, which is something he doesn’t like to do.

Thus, after too many times of going back and forth and being forced to sit out more games than he cares to remember, the Mavs announced Saturday that Nowitzki will be out indefinitely with a strained right Achilles. It’s basically the same injury Nowitzki has been trying to shake since training camp.

In discussing the latest development with his injury, Nowitzki said he "had a little setback,’’ but he hopes this is not something he has to deal with for the remainder of his career.

"I’m hoping that it heals pretty soon here and I can play the rest of the season pretty pain-free,’’ Nowitzki said after Saturday’s 107-82 win over the Chicago Bulls. "Achilles injuries are tough, they just limit your movement a lot.

"If it limits my movement 10 years ago I’d still be able to play effectively out there. But if it limits my movement now, I’m already a step slow – that makes me three steps slow and it just makes so sense to be out there.’’

Nowitzki has played in only five of the Mavs’ 19 games and is averaging 12.2 points and 6.4 rebounds in 26.2 minutes per contest.

"Just seeing it day-by-day, pushing it a little more and seeing how it reacts. It’s frustrating for me…it never happened before in my career.

"It’s tough, but once I’m out there I don’t want the same thing to happen again just like next week, so I want to make sure now that it’s good to go.’’

Nowitzki is 38 years old and in his 19^th season, and has ramped up his rehabilitation day-to-day, including some treadmill work and additional small work on the court.

"Sometimes it’s tough because I know the one thing I can still semi-do is score the ball and spread the floor,’’ Nowitzki said. "At this stage of my career I don’t move well any ways, so if I’m out there at 80-90 percent I don’t think I’m a big help.

"So I want to make sure my body responds the right way and we’ll go from there.’’

Nowitzki signed a two-year, $50 million contract with the Mavs this past summer with high hopes of honoring that contract. What has happened to his body lately hasn’t changed his stance.

"I want to get back on the court as soon as I can -- that’s really all I’m worried about for now for this year,’’ Nowitzki said. "I think we can re-evaluate this summer, I’ll talk to obviously the trainer (owner mark) Cuban and my family and kind of just make a decision there.

"But for now I’m all-in and I want to play. This obviously not a career-ending injury, it’s just something that keeps lingering unfortunately.

‘Hopefully sometimes soon I’ll be out there and then stay out there. I don’t want to jump in and out of the lineup with soreness. I want to be healthy and stay out there.’’

This story was originally published December 3, 2016 at 11:36 PM with the headline "Nowitzki frustrated, but hoping to be pain-free once his Achillles heals."