Pretty soon, we will be saying goodbye to an entire generation of NBA superstars. The likes of Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Vince Carter, Tim Duncan, and Dirk Nowitzki are all on their last legs, so all we can do now is appreciate whatever they have left in the tank.
While many of those guys don’t resemble the players they were in their prime at all, Dirk has shown that he still is capable of turning back the clock on occasion. The former Finals MVP put up 31 points on 11-of-14 shooting to go with 11 rebounds in the Mavericks win over the Clippers in the “DeAndre Jordan” game on Wednesday, and the 37-year-old is one of only two players in the league thus far (alongside his former NBA Finals nemesis Dwyane Wade) who are averaging at least 18 points per game while playing less than 30 minutes a night.
With Dirk still remaining such an effective offensive weapon, the question becomes how much longer we will see the future Hall of Famer in an NBA uniform?
Sam Amick of USA Today penned an excellent column on Dirk and his future, and although you can tell that Father Time has certainly affected Nowitzki in some ways, the 2007 MVP says that he will play through the remainder of his current contract – at the very least.
“I always said that when the body is hurting every day, and when you’ve got to do all this extra stuff to just play, I think that’s when it’s time to go. But I feel good. I feel good right now and I felt good this summer. I mean, we had a five-games-in-six-days for the (Eurobasket), and I got through that just fine. … I felt good. I don’t need to pop a thousand pills to play or practice. So as long as that’s still good, and it’s still fun to go. I’m going to definitely ride this contract out (this season and next). I don’t know. We’ll see what happens after that.”
It’s unfortunate for Dirk that he will be playing the rest of his career for a team that likely won’t be a title contender, but at this point, it’s hard to imagine the Mavs trading him away even if they are basically only battling for a low playoff seed.
Regardless, even if Nowitzki’s final seasons don’t end with another trip to the Finals, Dirk will likely end his career as the sixth-leading scorer of all-time. And as he proved on Wednesday, every once in a while, he is still capable of producing magic with his jump shot and carrying his team to a victory.
(Via USA Today Sports)