Dirk Nowitzki can still get buckets — he’s averaging 12 points a game, shooting better than 40 percent from three — but he’s not moving as well as he once did. Being 39 and having played 50,573 regular season minutes in a 20-year career will do that.
However, it was a little more than just father time — Nowitzki’s ankle bothered him all season, and on Thursday the Mavericks announced he underwent “surgical debridement of his left ankle.” With less than a week left of games remaining, Nowitzki is obviously done for this season.
What about next season? He has talked steadily about wanting to come back for season 21, and that has not changed with this surgery, if anything it makes it more likely he returns, reports Marc Stein of the New York Times.
The surgery was already planned, league sources say, when Nowitzki told the @nytimes last week: "As of now, I'm planning to come back" next season
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) April 5, 2018
Nowitzki decided to play through the left ankle impingement that plagued him throughout this season and his mobility was severely hampered at times, but the Mavs' hope is that today's procedure helps in that department
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) April 5, 2018
Next season Nowitzki — the greatest Dallas Maverick in franchise history, the greatest European player ever in the NBA and the best outside shooting big in league history — will be honored at every stop. The Mavs will sell out the American Airlines Center as Dallas fans get one last look at their favorite player (all while watching Dennis Smith Jr. and the rest of the younger Mavericks develop). It’s the kind of honors Nowitzki has earned and will want to play down.