1-on-1 to 5 with Dirk Nowitzki

The American adaptation of German author Thomas Pletzinger's 2019 Nowitzki book hits shelves soon. I spoke to Dirk as he begins a series of interviews to trumpet the arrival of the English version

Fresh off the retirement of his No. 41 in January and then a trip to All-Star Weekend to formally take his place on the NBA's 75th Anniversary Team, Dirk Nowitzki boarded a plane Monday morning for a new basketball experience:

New York promotional book tour. 

Nowitzki was the feature subject of German author Thomas Pletzinger's August 2019 book The Great Nowitzki, which was released in their native Germany shortly after Nowitzki's record 21st and final season with the Dallas Mavericks and is now in its third printing. After a lengthy process to adapt the book to English for an American market, W.W. Norton & Company is scheduled to release The Great Nowitzki: Basketball And The Meaning Of Life on March 15.

Dirk fans can expect a string of upcoming podcasts and interviews in which the 43-year-old will surely be asked to expound on the book and reflect on a soon-to-be Hall of Fame career that most recently led to Nowitzki's June 2021 appointment as a special advisor to Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.

We caught up with Nowitzki by phone before the trip to get a few thoughts from him on literary and corresponding basketball matters.

This interview was lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

Just being featured in a book like this and now seeing it out in two languages and participating in the promotion … what is that like for you? I'm not sure I expected a book like this while you were playing. 

It was definitely weird at first to read so much about myself. It was so embarrassing when it first came out because I remember flying to China — I was an ambassador for the FIBA World Cup — and I had to take the cover off and leave it at home. I didn't want people on the plane seeing me reading a book called "The Great Nowitzki."

A couple of times I had tears in my eyes reading it. Thomas described my last game so well right at the beginning of the German version that I started …

This is an excerpt from my latest NBA column. To read it all and receive full access to all of my work, please click the link or the button.