Dirk Nowitzki Hopes to Make History in December

Dallas Mavericks veteran Dirk Nowitzki’s much anticipated 2018 – 2019 season debut could come in December, according to the player himself.

Dirk Nowitzki is on the verge of history. He will make it a 21st season with the same franchise when he plays for the Mavericks again this year.

He currently shares the record for most seasons with the same team with Kobe Bryant. Bryant played 20 seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers before retiring in 2016.

Dirk Nowitzki (40), is still recovering from ankle surgery which he had seven months ago. He will have to wait to make history but he did still step onto the court on Wednesday night.

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Dirk Nowitzki was honoured during a halftime ceremony by Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings. The 13 time All-Star was presented a key to the city by the mayor in anticipation of the record.

Nowitzki led Dallas to it’s only NBA Championship in 2011, picking up the Finals MVP award along the way. The German is the highest scoring foreigner in NBA history. His 31,187 points rank seventh on the all time list.

However, Nowitzki doesn’t want his achievements to stop there, and cautiously said he would return in December.

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“It’s just hard when I haven’t done much for eight weeks and there’s a 40-year-old basically starting from scratch to try to get back in shape to play NBA minutes,” Nowitzki said. “Hopefully soon. Hopefully, somewhere in December I’ll be ready and the body will respond the right way.”

He is yet to join in with full practice, although he did start running on a treadmill two weeks ago.

“The reason why we’re taking it so slow now is once I get out there, I want to finish the rest of the season healthy,” Nowitzki said. “I don’t want to come back too soon now and then have setbacks again like I did with the Achilles a few years ago. Next thing you know I missed another few weeks.”