On February 25, the Dallas Mavericks played their last game in Los Angeles against the Los Angeles Clippers this season. Ultimately, the Dallas Mavericks would lose that game by a score of 121-112. However, this game was more than just a basketball game; this game was a honoring to a basketball legend: Dallas Mavericks’ Power Forward, Dirk Nowitzki. Dirk Nowitzki is currently playing in his 21st season at the age of 40. By the end of this season, he has announced that he will most likely retire from the National Basketball Association (NBA). For many people, Dirk Nowitzki is one of the greatest players to ever play the game of professional basketball and without a doubt he will be inducted into the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame. Dirk Nowitzki is more than just a great basketball player though; he was a tremendous inspiration for the future generation of basketball players yet to come.
Dirk Nowitzki joined the NBA in 1998 when the Milwaukee Bucks selected him the 9th out of 60 in the 1998 NBA draft, but they precede to trade him to the Dallas Mavericks. What made this pick so historical was that Dirk Nowitzki was not from the United States of America. Before the NBA draft, Dirk Nowitzki was playing professional basketball in Germany. Up until 1998, the NBA did not have a lot of star international players. There were a few recognizable names, but a lot of the big time names – like Michael Jordan and Shaquille O’Neal – were players originally from the US. Dirk Nowitzki was the player that changed that. It was made extremely clear after his first few seasons as an NBA player that Dirk Nowitzki was gonna be a star. With Dirk Nowitzki’s sudden rise to stardom, many NBA teams began to wonder if there were any more players like Dirk. NBA teams since 1999 (Dirk Nowitzki’s 1st year in the NBA after the 1998 NBA draft) started to take more and more notice into the players from the European league of basketball, hoping to find there Dirk Nowitzki. To put this into perspective, in the 1998 NBA draft (Dirk Nowitzki’s draft year), out of the 60 draft picks, only 9 of the players were international players. Fast forward to 2016 and the numbers are significantly different. Out of the 60 draft picks in 2016, 26 of the players were International players. 2016 was the record setting year. Dirk Nowitzki is proof that Basketball is not just and American sport. Other countries have also have very talented basketball players. Many basketball players may get overshadowed by fans just because they are not from the US, and that is a tragedy to say the least. Dirk Nowitzki opened the gateway for International players. Today in the modern NBA, many of most recognizable players are International players. Some of my favorite players who originally played basketball outside of the United States are Ben Simmons from Australia, Joel Embiid from Cameroon, Kristaps Porzingus from Latvia, and Luka Doncic from Slovenia. I’m not the only one who loves these players. If you ask any NBA fan about these players, they would have a lot to say about each player.
As a big time NBA fan – I just really like watching sports -, it is incredibly tough to accept the fact that Dirk Nowitzki is retiring. Dirk Nowitzki has spawned in a whole new generation of basketball; a generation where teams not only look for players within the United States, but also equally consider players who play in International leagues or originally played in their home countries and came to the US to play college basketball. If it wasn’t for Dirk Nowitzki, some of the players I mentioned above may have never made it to the NBA and have the chance to fulfill their dreams: play professional basketball on the biggest stage.
The Academic Journey 