Sunday Conversation: Dirk Nowitzki

If you haven't listened to my radio interview with the Hall of Fame-bound Nowitzki or perhaps prefer the written version ... it's all here now

When I gratefully landed a new weekly radio show in Dallas on 97.1 The Freak, Dirk Nowitzki offered to be the first guest on the first show I hosted.

Me being strategic me, I asked him to wait. For two reasons …

1.  The Saturday Stein Line debuted on July 1 hours into NBA free agency. I had a feeling that the audience, on Opening Day of the offseason, would only have ears for the latest updates from The Transaction Game.

2.  I selfishly wanted to save Dirk's appearance for the Saturday before his Hall of Fame induction.

He kindly agreed to the proposed schedule and, as I have so often found during my quarter-century on the Nowitzki Beat, had plenty to say when the appointed Saturday arrived.

Enclosed are highlights of our conversation as the 45-year-old prepares to take his rightful place in Springfield on Aug. 12 — with multiple links to the full audio at the bottom. (Many thanks for the transcribing assists from Jay Appaji at Mavs Film Room as well as photo editor Aaron Stein for adding more duties to his workload.)

(This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.)

On his readiness for next weekend's festivities in Springfield:

I'm super excited, obviously a little anxious already. ... I have family and friends coming from all over the world, so, yeah, I'm already a little nervous. Obviously I'm not a great speaker and holding a big speech there and then just the whole hoopla there — you know the limelight is not really my thing. So it's gonna be a little bit uncomfortable at times, but I'm gonna just try to really enjoy it.

My family and my kids are now old enough to really understand what's happening. … All this stuff, all the honorings and the street naming and all that, people are now like: "We got to celebrate you again? Like, when is this over, this retirement tour?" And I would say this, to me, the Hall of Fame is the absolute tip of the iceberg, and it's the coolest thing.

On asking Steve Nash and Jason Kidd to be his Hall of Fame presenters:

You know me. I wasn't doing it all formal: "Hey, Steven, do you mind?" So I just kind of threw it out, and when we talked about Hall of Fame and same with J-Kidd — obviously they're not only teammates of mine. They're really, really good friends and friends for life.

On how hard it would have been to convince anyone around the Mavericks in Nash and Nowitzki's first season together that there were two future MVPs and Hall of Famers in that locker room:

Crazy how the time has flown by and also crazy how that worked out. I'm always a little negative, I'm shy, it's my German in me. And so, that first year I just, I wasn't sure: "Am I going to make it?" I had doubts creeping in, of course, there were games — you were there — where I didn't play at all. I was frustrated. I was basically questioning myself: "Did I make the right decisions here to come over or should I have stayed in Europe? Should I have gone to college?" ... And then all we really did was, Steve and I, was say: "All we can do is work hard and we'll go from there.” That's all you can do is control what you can control. We used to go back to the gym every night to the old Landry Center there. We didn't even have our own practice facility and just played H-O-R-S-E, played one-on-one, played shooting games, played with other guys, three on three, just trying to work as hard as we can and get extra sessions in. ... If it didn't work out, then people can't say: "Well, you didn't work hard enough." That's what we both didn't want. So we just really busted our tails trying to get better.

On Don Nelson giving Nowitzki, whose playing time had declined sharply, significant minutes late in his rookie season after the Mavericks were out of playoff contention:

When we were finally eliminated, Nellie came up to me and said: "Hey, listen, I'll start you again. We have, whatever, 10 games left. Why don't you just get adjusted to the game and have some fun and really love playing?" That stretch to me was one of the biggest turnarounds in my career. ... I had one game where I had like 28 [points] and that kind of showed me, hey, if you actually work hard and you have the skills to succeed and obviously Nellie will put you in positions [to succeed] with his with his mismatch style — that meant the world to me. Those last 10 games of my first year, that really changed everything. 

On going into the Hall of Fame with some of his fiercest rivals — Tony Parker, Pau Gasol and Dwyane Wade:

There were times there where all of us didn't really get along great. But I think that's part of competing at the highest level and part of trying to win at all costs. And so there were times where I didn't speak with Pau much. There were times where I didn't speak with Dwyane. Tony and I were always pretty OK. But it's just funny how that works out that now all of a sudden we're all together in this class.

We talked about it a little bit when we got introduced [at] the Final Four in Houston when they announced us. We spent a couple good days together there and it's just funny how that worked. I competed against Pau and Tony since we were, I don't know, 19, 20 years old on national teams, so it is super cool to be part of that crew.

On his relationship with Wade after their two frosty duels in the NBA Finals and whether it's the proper terminology in retirement to refer to them as friends:

I mean, obviously, friends reach out to each other all the time. They talk all the time. I wouldn't say we're friends. I think there's a mutual sense of obviously respect for each other's career and obviously we're cordial. We were sitting [together] actually in Houston at that one dinner. We were sitting at the same table, our families sat together, and so there's just no bad blood any more. We all moved on. Things were said on both sides or done that neither side liked, but like I said earlier, that's part of competition at the highest level. … So are we friends? No, we don't text each other, but I think there's a lot of respect there and we're both happy to go in the Hall of Fame together. 

On whether he still questions the wisdom of playing his final two seasons after revealing in a February 2022 podcast hosted by German soccer-playing brothers Toni and Felix Kroos that he sometimes felt as though he stayed in the game too long:

I think it's normal to go back and ask yourself questions. That’s part of reflecting. If you're done with something in life and then you kind of look back and reflect a little bit, it's normal to ask questions: "Hey, what if? What if I would have quit two years earlier? Would that have made a difference?" Honestly, it doesn't really matter. I'm super, super proud of having played 21 years for one franchise. Nobody can ever take that away from me. And, of course, the last years were a little tough. I mean, in my last season, I could barely — I didn't practice anymore. I missed the first 30 games. It took forever for me to somewhat play decent basketball, so those times are not necessarily fun. But, like I said, it's part of my career now and I'm proud of it to play 21 years and at an older age and trying to keep up with guys that were half your age. I'm proud that I made it this long and, of course, here and there I have some ankle issues, but I think — even if I would have quit after 19 [seasons] I would have still had some issues. So it's just part of sports. 

On winning that one championship ring and how tangible it is to him on a daily basis:

I don't look at the ring a lot. Only when I really have new guests or whatever and they come over and they want to see it. ... But I am reminded of the championship every day. I have a photo at home in my little man cave where obviously [I] hoist the trophy and the whole team is behind me. ... So I am reminded of it daily, which is of course amazing and it puts a smile on my face every day. But the ring … as a matter of fact I haven't seen it now in months now since we traveled a bunch. So when I get home I might — I might have to lay eyes on it before I come to Springfield.