Dirk Nowitzki doesn’t seem to age — his scoring numbers are up this season from 17.3 to 18.8 points per game, his true shooting percentage increased, he’s seemingly reversed the downward trends in his game. And he’s got the Mavericks on the cusp of making the playoffs (although the loss of Chandler Parsons for the rest of the season is a major blow).
The future Hall of Famer has one year left on his “I’ll take a deal to help the team” contract, worth $8.7 million next season, and he’s going to take it. Here’re his comments, via Tim MacMahon of ESPN.
Dirk says he plans to pick up the player option in his contract for next season. "I always said I wanted to play those 3 years to the end."
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) March 25, 2016
Dirk: "In my mind, after we won the championship, it was always clear I will retire a Mav." But he wants no part of a rebuilding project.
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) March 25, 2016
The Mavericks did not go into rebuild mode last summer, although if DeAndre Jordan had told them no from the start that may have been different, Mark Cuban has suggested.
You know Cuban and company will go big game hunting come free agency, but that’s a limited talent pool this season and virtually every team has money. Expect if they strike out for the Mavs to add some more solid pieces and improve the team’s overall quality for what could be Nowitzki’s final season (age 38, in the last year of his deal).
