Dirk Nowitzki is one of four active NBA players drafted in 1998, and at 37-years-old, has managed to lead the Dallas Mavericks to the postseason for the 14th time in his career.
Dallas — despite coming into the season as a team that very few expected to make the playoffs — finished the season with a 42-40 record, good enough for sixth place in the Western Conference and a third consecutive postseason appearance, and they couldn't have done it without Nowitzki.
Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle, who has worked with Nowitzki for the past eight seasons, understands just how valuable the veteran seven-footer is to team success.
“Dirk Nowitzki is still a great player in this league, and his analytic impact numbers are staggeringly great for our team," Carlisle told USA TODAY Sports. "He is the major reason that we’re in the playoffs. There are a lot of other key guys that have contributed, but without him, we’re a deep lottery team.”
He may not be the knockdown shooter that he once was, and he may not be capable of seeing 35-plus minutes of playing time a night, but the fact remains: Nowitzki is still a very, very productive basketball player.
He leads the Mavericks in scoring (18.3 points per game) and has managed to up his rebounding numbers (6.5 per game) and minutes (31.5) from a season ago. League-wide, he leads all NBA players over the age of 35 in scoring as well.
But, despite his continued success, there's always an elephant in the room. With his 38th birthday fast approaching and Father Time breathing down his neck, could this be the last hurrah for an international basketball icon?
Carlisle isn't sure, but he sure hopes it's not.
“I know that we would love him to play several more years," Carlisle said. "That would be any Mavericks fans' desire, it would be any Mavericks coaches' or owners' desire, and any Mavericks teammates' desire. So we hope he can continue to play for a while. But I’ve learned never to assume anything in this league, and he’s one of the greatest ever. So we’ll see what happens.”
Whether or not he sticks around for another chapter of his Hall of Fame career or rides off into the Dallas sunset, a dangerously talented Oklahoma City Thunder team awaits in the first round of the playoffs. A thunder team that won all four games against the Mavericks this season and outscored them 450-412. A Thunder team that has two of the top ten players in the league in Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.
The Mavericks' playoff opponent was still up in the air when speaking with USA TODAY Sports, but Carlisle knew that whichever team steps in their way, it will be far from a cakewalk.
"'(Seeds) one through four in the West are all elite, championship caliber teams. So we know that we will have our hands full, but we’ll have a plan of attack," Carlisle said. "We'll go into it aggressively, and we're gonna bring a truck load of kitchen sinks and throw them at whoever."
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