The Dallas Mavericks announced Thursday that they have re-signed 13-time All-Star Dirk Nowitzki. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Nowitzki (7-0, 245) will return for his 20th season with the Mavericks in 2017-18, joining Kobe Bryant (Lakers) as the sole members of the NBA’s 20-year, only one-team club.
During his 19-year career in Dallas, Nowitzki has guided the Mavericks to many of the franchise’s greatest achievements. Nowitzki led Dallas to its first-ever 60 win season in 2002-03, its first NBA Finals appearance in 2006, a franchise-high 67 wins in 2006-07 and the organization’s first NBA championship in 2011. He also led the Mavericks to the playoffs 15 times in a 16-year span (from 2001 to 2016).
Nowitzki, who has scored 30,260 points in his illustrious career, is the NBA’s top foreign-born scorer of all-time, the league’s active leading scorer and the longest tenured player with one team.
In addition to appearing in a franchise-record 13 NBA All-Star Games, Nowitzki earned 12 consecutive All-NBA Team selections (2000-12), was named Most Valuable Player of the 2006-07 season and voted MVP of the 2011 NBA Finals. He is a six-time Western Conference Player of the Month, a 17-time Western Conference Player of the Week and has competed in the All-Star Saturday Night Three-Point Contest four times. Nowitzki was also the recipient of the 2014 Magic Johnson Award and the 2017 Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year Award.
The career Maverick holds averages of 21.7 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 34.9 minutes in 1,394 career games (1,363 starts). He is the franchise leader in several different categories including points (30,260), rebounds (10,893), field goals made (10,688), 3-pointers made (1,780), free throws made (7,104), games played (1,394), games started (1,363) and minutes played (48,673).
In the NBA Playoffs, Nowitzki’s game elevates to averages of 25.3 points, 10.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 40.6 minutes in 145 postseason contests (all starts). He has led the Mavericks to three Western Conference Finals appearances and two NBA Finals berths while moving into first place on several of the franchise’s postseason categories including points (3,663), rebounds (1,446), assists (360), blocks (129), steals (149), field goals made (1,220), free throws made (1,074) and games played (145).
Last season, Nowitzki became the sixth player in NBA history and the first international player to reach the 30,000-point plateau against the L.A. Lakers on March 7. He joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387), Karl Malone (36,928), Bryant (33,643), Michael Jordan (32,292) and Wilt Chamberlain (31,419) in the NBA’s exclusive 30,000-point club. Nowitzki also became just the third player in league history to score 30,000 points with one franchise, joining Malone (Jazz) and Bryant (Lakers).
Nowitzki has also served as a pioneer for European players, becoming the first European-born player to earn First Team All-NBA honors (2004-05), start an All-Star Game (2007, Las Vegas) and be named MVP (2006-07).
The Wurzburg, Germany, native was the ninth overall pick in the 1998 NBA Draft and was acquired through a draft day trade with the Milwaukee Bucks. Nowitzki re-signed with the Mavericks on Oct. 22, 2001. He then signed a contract extension with Dallas on Sept. 26, 2006, re-signed on July 9, 2010, re-signed again on July 15, 2014 and re-signed once more on July 27, 2016.
