Dirk Nowitzki Hopes To Play Through 2016
8:13pm: Mavs owner Mark Cuban isn't looking as far ahead as Nowitzki, but won't turn his back on the team's superstar, according to Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "I think it’s too early to start thinking about that," Cuban said. "Obviously I’ll keep on signing him."
8:34am: Dirk Nowitzki told reporters yesterday that he likely won't be back on the court for the Mavericks until at least mid-December. While that news isn't good in the short-term for the Mavs, Nowitzki is hopeful that the extra recovery time will bode well for his long-term health. As Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News writes, Nowitzki would like to play for a couple more years after his current contract ends, a timetable that would see him on the court through the 2015/16 season.
"Like I said a couple weeks ago, when I came back two years ago, the championship year, there was really no practice and I came back after three weeks and it took me a long time to kind of get back," Nowitzki said yesterday. "I’m not going to do that this year. I need to make sure everything’s right before I come back. I can’t rush. I’m hoping maybe after these two years (of his current contract) to play a couple more years. So it would be the wrong thing now to push it and come back too early and maybe make something worse for the long term."
Nowitzki is earning a salary of about $20.91MM this season and is in line to make about $22.72MM in 2013/14 before becoming eligible for unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2014. He'll be 36 years old at that point, with plenty of NBA mileage on his body, but considering the number of players we're seeing continue their careers into their late-30s these days, it wouldn't be surprising at all to see Dirk still playing well at that time. As a point of comparison, Kevin Garnett hit free agency at age 36 this summer and re-signed with the Celtics on a three-year deal.
Odds & Ends: Mavs, Kings, Kapono, Williams
The latest news and notes from around the NBA on Tuesday night:
- Tim Cowlishaw of SportsDayDFW.com writes that, despite a hot start, the Mavericks are struggling without the injured Dirk Nowitzki.
- Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee has a Q&A with Kings GM Geoff Petrie covering the state of the franchise.
- Former NBA guard Jason Kapono is still unsure whether or not he will play in Greece, as he agreed to, citing a family emergency.
- Sean Williams has signed to play in China, according to Jon Pastuzek of NiuBBall.com.
Western Notes: Petrie, D’Antoni, Collison, Batum
Here are a few of today's noteworthy odds and ends from around the Western Conference:
- If the Maloofs are serious about trying to keep the Kings in Sacramento, they need to cut ties with team president Geoff Petrie, argues Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee. According to Voisin, the repeated mistakes made by the NBA's longest-tenured head of basketball operations have "stripped the once-proud franchise of its passion, its identity, its collective soul."
- Coach Mike D'Antoni will make his official debut on the Lakers' bench tonight, he confirmed today to the media, including Mike Trudell of Lakers.com.
- As the Mavericks prepare to face former Dallas point guard Jason Kidd and the Knicks tomorrow night, the Mavs' new point guard, Darren Collison is struggling, as NBA.com's Jeff Caplan writes.
- Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com details how Nicolas Batum's offseason trip to Cameroon gave him a new-found perspective on life during his free agent negotiations.
- Andrew Bogut, who has only appeared in four games during his Warriors' career, will miss at least three more contests before hopefully returning to practice next Monday, the team announced today in a press release.
- Another injured star in the West, Dirk Nowitzki, is now aiming to return to the Mavericks in mid-December, writes Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News.
Western Rumors: Lakers, Wolves, Dirk, Rockets
We heard almost a month ago to the day that the Lakers had made Steve Blake and Chris Duhon available via trade, and that hasn't changed even with Steve Nash out, according to Chris Mannix of SI.com (Twitter link). Mannix reports that the Lakers have continued to dangle the two point guards in trade talks, but, unsurprisingly, neither player is drawing much interest. Here are a few more updates out of the Western Conference:
- With Chase Budinger officially out for about three months, the Timberwolves will likely move to add a wing, tweets Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune. Zgoda names Mickael Pietrus, Josh Howard, and Raja Bell as possibilities, though Pietrus is seeking more than Minnesota can offer and Bell is still a member of the Jazz.
- Dirk Nowitzki's rehab on his surgically repaired knee isn't progressing quite as quickly as he'd anticipated, Nowitzki said on FOX Sports Southwest last night. Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News has the details.
- Following up on yesterday's report that the Rockets would send their three rookies to the D-League, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle notes (via Twitter) that that's always been the case with Rockets rookies who aren't getting regular playing time.
- SI.com's Ian Thomsen fields questions on the Lakers, DeMarcus Cousins, the Grizzlies, and a few other topics in his latest mailbag.
Western Notes: Eyenga, Harden, Green, Karl
The Lakers liked Christian Eyenga, who they acquired last year from the Cavaliers, and after the third-year swingman was waived by the Magic earlier today, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports wondered (via Twitter) if Los Angeles could try to get him back. However, because Eyenga was traded by the Lakers to Orlando in August, L.A. is ineligible to either claim him off waivers or sign him before his contract expires next July, so Eyenga will have to find work elsewhere.
Here are a few more late-morning notes out of the Western Conference:
- There's no question that the Suns would love to get a chance to sign James Harden and would likely make him an aggressive offer if he reaches restricted free agency, says Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. However, Coro wonders if it might be as futile an endeavor as Phoenix's pursuit of Eric Gordon was this past summer.
- Having signed a three-year contract with the Spurs this summer, Danny Green is excited about having some security this season, says Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld. "It’s very nice," Green said. "Obviously, it allows me to play a little bit more comfortably, to know that this organization is behind me and they want me here…. Even though I got that security, I’m still taking that time to approach the game like I did before without the contract."
- Coby Karl hasn't officially been cut from the Trail Blazers' roster, but he's expecting that to happen soon, as he tells CSNNW.com.
- Even with the Mavericks hopeful that Dirk Nowitzki could return from knee surgery by mid-November, Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com wonders how the team's chemistry will be affected by his absence.
- Agent Andrew Vye tells Mark Berman of FOX 26 Houston that his client Royce White has a plan in place for traveling to games that everyone is on board with, "including the league, the union, the Rockets, and Royce and us."
Poll: Will Love Or Dirk Injury Have Bigger Impact?
Earlier today, the Dallas Mavericks announced that Dirk Nowitzki had undergone arthroscopic knee surgery and was expected to miss up to six weeks of the season. This comes just days after the Minnesota Timberwolves were also hit with the loss of their All-Star power forward. Kevin Love suffered a broken hand earlier this week and is likewise expected to be sidelined for around six weeks.
The Mavs and Wolves were both expected to be in the race for a playoff spot in the loaded Western Conference. However, losing their respective best players for the start of the season would seem to put a damper on those plans. Whose injury do you believe will have a larger impact on their team?
Whose Loss Will Be Felt More By Their Team?
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Kevin Love 65% (341)
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Dirk Nowitzki 35% (181)
Total votes: 522
Dirk Nowitzki Undergoes Surgery, Out Six Weeks
Dirk Nowitzki has undergone arthroscopic surgery on his right knee, the Mavericks announced today in a press release. The procedure was successful and is expected to keep the Mavs forward out of any on-court activities for approximately six weeks, according to the team.
As we heard earlier this week, despite the knee being drained repeatedly this month, it continued to swell and give Nowitzki problems, keeping him out of the last three Dallas preseason games. The longtime Mav had been hoping to avoid the procedure, but undergoing it now will give him a better chance to avoid nagging issues all season long.
It's unlikely that the injury results in any roster moves for the Mavs, considering the team has 15 players on guaranteed contracts and waived its final camp invitee, Josh Akognon, yesterday. But like the Timberwolves, who will be without Kevin Love for the first few weeks of the season, the Mavs will have to avoid digging too deep an early-season hole with their star player out of action.
Southwest Links: Martin, Cuban, Mavs, Dirk
The Rockets upended the Grizzlies while the Mavericks fell to the Suns tonight in preseason action, where the Hornets and Spurs are both 3-1 thus far. Here are some other links from the Southwest division:
- As the Rockets go-to guy in a contract year, Kevin Martin will be playing for himself in 2012-13 as much as he will be playing for his team, writes Bill Ingram of HoopsWorld. Martin has never really been part of a good team and seems to be constantly injured, but if he can stay healthy and thrive as the main option in Houston, he should be able to cash in.
- According to Mark Cuban, just because nearly all of the Mavericks roster may be free agents after the season, doesn't mean the team may not return a similar bunch in 2013/14, says Dwain Price of the Star-Telegram. “I’ll tell you exactly what I told them,’’ Cuban said. "The best situation is
everybody kills it, and they’re all back. Then, I don’t have to deal with all the idiot questions over the
summer and we’ve got a great team to build on. That’s what I want.’’ - Kevin Sherrington of the Dallas Morning News held a chat today and implied that the Mavericks may be better off if Dirk Nowitzki gets his knee cleaned out and misses half the season. Sherrington's thought process is that, without Nowitzki, the Mavs would miss the playoffs, get help through the lottery and free agency, and have a fresh Dirk in 2013/14.
Mavericks Notes: Nowitzki, West, Mayo
Dirk Nowitzki is doing everything he can to avoid undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his troublesome right knee, but with the knee swelling up again yesterday, his options are looking increasingly limited, as he told the media.
"I’m doing everything I can, conservatively, not to have surgery," Nowitzki said, according to Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News. "I guess that’s obvious, that I really don’t want it done now. If I want to do it, I would love to do it after the season, get through the season somehow. But the swelling came back three or four times now. That’s obviously not good news. If it’s going to keep swelling up on me, then that’s obviously not the way to go through an 82-game season and hopefully a long playoff run."
If Nowitzki and the team's doctors decide that surgery is the way to go, the procedure will likely take place next week, with healing expected to take between three and six weeks. Here are a few more Tuesday morning Mavericks links:
- Adi Joseph of USA Today wonders how the Mavericks lineup would hold up with Nowitzki out, opining that the team should be okay if he just misses a few weeks.
- Coach Rick Carlisle was impressed with the team's depth off the bench in its win over Houston on Monday night, writes Dwain Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
- The Mavs have suspended Delonte West for conduct detrimental to the team, Carlisle told the media, including Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. The suspension "stems at least in part" from an outburst in the Mavs' locker room following last night's game, according to MacMahon.
- While Carlisle didn't specify a timetable for West's suspension, it's not expected to last long, says Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News.
- Offseason signee O.J. Mayo made a solid impression last night after an uneasy start in the team's games in Europe, MacMahon writes at ESPN Dallas.
Western Notes: Thunder, Brewer, Sacre
- Darnell Mayberry of NewsOK highlights notable stories from the Thunder's pre-season, including the play of Perry Jones III, Cole Aldrich, and Eric Maynor. In a separate article, Mayberry collaborates with John Rohde to profile seven of the team's new additions brought in from the offseason.
- Aaron J. Lopez takes a look at Nuggets forward Corey Brewer, who four years removed from ACL surgery believes that he is faster and can jump higher today.
- Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times highlights Robert Sacre as the biggest surprise of the Lakers' exhibition season.
- John Reid of NOLA.com examines the battle between Greivis Vasquez and Brian Roberts for minutes at the Hornets point guard rotation.
- Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune talks about the challenge the Timberwolves have faced in terms of trying to integrate all their new pieces amidst some nagging injuries.
- Jeff McDonald of Spurs Nation writes that Patrick Mills could return to practice on Monday after sitting out two games with a sprained right ankle.
- O.J. Mayo's hand is healing
properly after he suffered a laceration last week from a fall during the
Mavericks' visit to Barcelona, writes Dwain Price of the Star-Telegram. Price also tweeted that coach
Rick Carlisle believes Mayo will be fine after a few more days. As for Dirk Nowitzki, Carlisle said that he has been doing well (Price via Twitter).