During emotional goodbye, Dirk Nowitzki makes retirement official
It is official.
After playing the final home game of his career Tuesday night, Dirk Nowitzki announced that he will retire after the season, which ends Wednesday night in San Antonio.
Nowitzki made the emotional announcement to a packed American Airlines Center crowd who stayed long after the Dallas Mavericks’ 120-109 win over the Phoenix Suns, to help say goodbye to the legend.
Nowitzki, who scored a season-high 30 points in the win, was joined on the court by NBA legends Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Shawn Kemp, Scottie Pippen and Detlef Schremp, as well as Mavs heads coach Rick Carlisle and owner Mark Cuban.
“That was an emotional moment when I saw all five of them. I was in shock really,” Nowitzki said. “I was speechless.”
Cuban promised Nowitzki that his No. 41 jersey will be retired and that one day the “biggest, most badass statue” will be erected in front of the arena.
“I’m a bit overwhelmed, as you might think,” Nowitzki said after a long roar from the AAC crowd. “As you guys might expect, this was my last home game.”
That ignited another long roar from the crowd as the emotions hit Nowitzki.
“I’m trying my yoga breathing but it’s not really working that well,” Nowitzki joked. “This is obviously super emotional.”
He thanked Cuban and general manager Donnie Nelson, the organization and the 197 teammates throughout his 21 years with the Mavs. And, of course, he thanked the fans.
“I’ve put you guys on a hell of a ride with a lot of ups and downs and you guys always supported me and I appreciate it,” Nowitzki said.
Nowitzki shot 31 times, his most in a game sincce Nov. 3, 2010. His teammates kept feeding him the ball to the last seconds of the game.
“I was hoping he would score at least 41 — that would be something special,” Luka Doncic said. “The whole team tried to feed him. I was emotional. I think the whole team was emotional, so I imagine he was . It was a great day. He deserves all of it.”
During his post-game press conference, Nowitzki said he decided in the last couple of days that this would be it. The physical struggles had become too much, he said. He’s tired of the daily treatments, the pain pills and the cortisone injections that have helped him stay on the court after off-season foot surgery. He turns 41 in June.
“It’s been a long time coming,” he said. “Struggling this year with my foot … it’s just not there where it needs to be to compete at a high level for 82 games. It doesn’t make any sense anymore to do that for another season even though I’d love to be there for [Kristaps Porzingis] and Luka [Doncic] and all these young guys but it just doesn’t make sense physically.”
This story was originally published April 10, 2019 at 12:16 AM.
