As expected, Dirk Nowitzki will play at least one more season for the Mavericks, confirming today that he’ll return for a 21st NBA season in 2018/19, per Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News.
Nowitzki, who signed a two-year deal with the Mavs last summer, has maintained all season that he hoped to return for the second year of that contract as long as his health cooperated. Nowitzki avoided major injuries for the most part this season, appearing in 77 games for Dallas before being shut down last week due to ankle surgery. The 39-year-old said today that he underwent that ankle procedure now in order to get healthy for next season.
“I’m hoping the ankle will be tons better next year. I just kind of want to see how it goes,” Nowitzki said, per Dwain Price of Mavs.com (Twitter links). “I’m hoping to get of the boot in a few weeks and then start slow with the rehab. It’s going to be a long process.”
While Nowitzki obviously isn’t the same player he was in his prime, he continued to be a reliable outside shooter for the Mavs this season, making 40.9% of his three-point attempts. In 24.7 minutes per contest, the veteran big man contributed 12.0 PPG and 5.7 RPG.
Technically, Nowitzki doesn’t have a guaranteed salary yet for 2018/19, but the Mavs will certainly exercise their $5MM team option for the franchise legend as long as he doesn’t want to negotiate a new deal. And while there’s a good chance that next season will be Nowitzki’s last, that’s not necessarily a given, tweets Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com.
“Hopefully I can play some decent basketball next season,” Nowitzki said today. “If not, it’s time to go.”
Assuming Nowitzki, the NBA’s sixth-leading scorer of all-time, can stay relatively healthy next season, he should pass Wilt Chamberlain on the all-time scoring list, and even has an outside shot at surpassing Michael Jordan. However, LeBron James currently trails Nowitzki by just 159 career points, so the German will likely be passed by James and remain at No. 6 on that list.
Nowitzki will set another notable record by returning to Dallas for a 21st season — he’ll pass Kobe Bryant, who played 20 seasons with the Lakers, for the most years spent with a single franchise.