The Dallas Mavericks retired Dirk Nowitzki’s No. 41 jersey following the team’s 99-82 win over the Western Conference-leading Golden State Warriors Wednesday night at American Airlines Center. He becomes just the fourth player in franchise history to have his jersey retired, joining Derek Harper (No. 12), Brad Davis (No. 15) and Rolando Backman (No. 22).
Recently named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team, the 43-year-old has been serving as a special adviser to the Mavericks since June.
“Thank you guys from the bottom of my heart for making this journey incredible,” Nowitzki said. “And thank you for taking in a long, lanky kid over 20 years ago and making him one of your own. I’ll be always grateful.”
Nowitzki won the 2011 NBA Championship with Dallas and was named Finals MVP. He was named league MVP during the 2006-07 season, made 14 All-Star appearances and was named to an All-NBA team 12 times.
In 21 seasons with the Mavericks, Nowitzki, the No. 9 pick in the 1998 draft out of Germany, had career averages of 20.7 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. He retired as the franchise’s all-time leader in points (31,560), rebounds (11,489), defensive rebounds (10,021), field goals made (11,169), 3-pointers made (1,982), free throws made (7,240), blocks (1,281), games played (1,522), starts (1,460) and minutes played (51,368). He also owns the NBA record for the most seasons played with a single team.
During the ceremony, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban announced that a statue will be built outside of the arena — and all future Mavericks arenas — to honor Nowitzki.
“We didn’t do this because you won us the championship,” Cuban said. “This is because of who you are, what you’ve done, and we always want to recognize greatness forevermore.”
In his third game back from health and safety protocols, Luka Doncic led the Mavericks (20-18) with 26 points, seven rebounds and eight assists in Wednesday’s win over Golden State. Dorian Finney-Smith added 17 points, including four…