Dirk Nowitzki is 37 years old and in his 18th season in the NBA, but he isn’t close to being done yet. In the second year of a three-year contract with the Mavericks, Nowitzki says he isn’t thinking about retiring at the very least until his contract is up, and maybe beyond that.
From USA Today‘s Sam Amick:
“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,” said Nowitzki, a 13-time All-Star and one-time MVP, Finals MVP and champion. “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.”
Nowitzki has unquestionably declined over the past few years, but he’s still capable of playing at an extremely high level—he had 31 points and 11 rebounds in Wednesday night’s win over the Clippers. If he wants to stick around for a few more years before hanging it up, that’s just fine.