Billy Donovan explains why Dirk Nowitzki was an NBA game-changer

Dirk Nowitzki has been a pioneer in the NBA, not only for Germany and European basketball, but in the NBA itself.

The Dallas Mavericks legend, who is likely to retire at the conclusion of his 21st season in two weeks, helped usher in a wave of sharp-shooting big men who revolutionized the NBA for power forwards.

“Before he came into the league everybody looked at a traditional power forward as a big, strong, bruising guy who was an enforcer and played close to the basket,” said Oklahoma City Thunder coach Billy Donovan before playing Nowitzki’s Mavericks for perhaps the last time on Sunday afternoon at Chesapeake Energy Arena. “When he came along, just being 7-feet, and his ability to shoot the ball and his skill package offensively and what he can do and how he can play … now we see every team having a guy as a stretch 4 man. He probably has a lot to do with that because the game changed in a lot of ways.”

That changed eventually segued into those same big shooters becoming versatile defensive players as well, Donovan said. Players with similar skill sets are invariably compared to Nowitzki because he was the first, Donovan said, who named Kristaps Porzingis as an example.

“If you look at him and what he did throughout his career in Dallas I think in a lot of ways he changed that position,” he said. “He was one of a kind in that point in time.”

This story was originally published March 31, 2019 at 3:18 PM.