In a recent interview on KTCK-AM 1310, Mavs forward Dirk Nowitzki ruled out the possibility of retiring this season (transcript via SportsDayDFW.com). In fact, we can expect to see the Mavs star to play through his age-38 season.
“No. I definitely want to fulfill my contract. I signed on for three years last summer and I’m not going to retire after the first year. If I commit to something, I commit to it fully,” the 13-time All-Star explained. “I’ve got two more years and hopefully make it count, make it good ones. Hopefully deep playoff runs, that’s what we wanted this year. We wanted home court advantage to set us up for a nice little run, we just weren’t consistent enough to really get there, so, we’ll see how the next few years play out.”
Nowitzki, who averaged 17.3 PPG and 5.9 RPG in 2014/15, admitted that the grind of this past season got to him, but retirement still wasn’t a consideration for him. The 36-year-old (37 in June) said that he still loves to compete and he knows that he’ll find a way to battle through the rigors of another 82 game season as well as grueling summer workouts.
Late last month, Nowitzki said he would be willing to come off the bench for the Mavs next season if it would help the team. At the same time, he cited concerns about feeling stiff if he were to come out of the starting lineup. After holding up solid averages last season and posting an above-average 19.2 PER, it’s possible that the subject won’t even be broached with the 7-footer.
Nowitzki is set to earn roughly $8.3MM in 2015/16 and $8.7MM in the following year. For his career, Nowitzki has averaged 22.2 PPG and 5.9 RPG while shooting 38.3% from three-point range.