Before you get all riled up and lose your lunch, Dirk Nowitzki is not going to go play for the Golden State Warriors.
And since we’re on the subject of Nowitzki’s impending free agency, he’s not going to go play for the world champion Cleveland Cavaliers, either.
If you don’t know Dirk Nowitzki by now, to paraphrase Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, you’ll never, never, never know him.
I was at DFW airport when Nowitzki first got off the plane from Germany and joined the Mavericks in 1998, and there’s one glaring ingredient I’ve learned about him during numerous interviews throughout the years. That young man is loyal and truthful to a fault.
And I mean that in a positive way.
An 18-year veteran, Nowitzki has said on numerous occasions that unless the Mavericks plan on going through a rebuilding process, he plans to play his entire career with the Mavericks. And owner Mark Cuban has said on numerous occasions that he will never go into a rebuilding process as long as Nowitzki is with the Mavericks.
So, there you have. Period. Paragraph. End of story.
Please stop the nonsense.
Nowitzki is not leaving the Mavericks, so don’t waste your time writing that he might/will and talking about that he might/will. Nowitzki bleeds as much Mavericks’ blue blood as Cuban. He’s not in that world of bunny-hopping from team to team.
Neither is he a part of that group of players who join forces to form a super team.
Nowitzki’s DNA is laced with all things Mavericks. Drafted at age 19, Nowitzki, now 38 years old, has spent half his life in Dallas, and he will play out the remainder of his career with the Mavs. Look, Nowitzki could have earned about $75 million in free agency two summers ago. But he turned his back on that to return to the Mavericks for $25 million over three years.
Mavericks guard Devin Harris said of Nowitzki: “I don’t think the Big German is going anywhere.”
Of Nowitzki having the gall to leave the Mavericks to play for the Warriors, Harris said: “I don’t really see that happening.”
Besides, even if you buy into the crazy argument that Nowitzki can win a title next season with the Warriors if he signs with the Warriors, you know that’s not a guarantee.
Sure, the Warriors are an exceptional team who set an NBA regular season record with 73 wins this year. But they lost as many games in the regular season (nine) as they did in the playoffs (nine).
The Warriors also lost as many home games in the NBA Finals to Cleveland (two) as they did in the regular season (two). And they lost the decisive Game 7 of the Finals on their home court to the Cavs after leading the best-of-seven series 3-1.
Pick up the phone and call Mike Bibby and ask him how capturing a title worked out of him when he gave back some $12 million so he could “win” a title with the Miami Heat in 2011. It worked out so well that after starting the first five games of the 2011 Finals against the Mavericks, Bibby didn’t even play in the decisive Game 6, which the Mavericks (and Nowitzki) won to close out that series.
Pick up the phone and call Karl Malone and Gary Payton and ask them how joining forces with Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant to form the super teams of all super teams worked out for them. That powerful Los Angeles Lakers team lost to the Detroit Pistons in the 2004 NBA Finals.
Pick up the phone and dial up David West and ask him about taking a pay cut of approximately $11 million so he could play for $1 million and “win” a championship with the San Antonio Spurs this past season. And how did that title-chasing venture work out for West?
The Spurs lost in the second round of the playoffs, and now West has opted out of a contract that will pay him $1.55 million next year with the Spurs so he can become a free agent.
(Is hitching up with LeBron and the Cavs the next destination for West, or is he going to the Warriors)?
Oh, there’s plenty more sad stories of millions being blown chasing titles, only for the players to be reminded that death and taxes are the only two guarantees in life.
And who told who that winning an NBA title means you’re greater than the players who never won a title?
I remind you that Adam Morrison only played four seasons and has two sparkling NBA rings. You do know who Adam Morrison is, don’t you?
Between Charles Barkley, John Stockton, Patrick Ewing and Malone, they have a total of zero NBA titles. And they’ll all run circles around Adam Morrison and the hundreds of other two-bit NBA players who made extremely minor contributions towards the NBA rings they won.
How many championship rings a player has doesn’t determine how great he was as a player. Yes, the Warriors have a stronger chance of winning the NBA title next year than the Mavericks. A six-year old kid knows that.
According to Bovada, 11 teams have better odds of winning the 2017 NBA title than the Mavericks. And one of them probably will win it.
But the Warriors were picked to win this year’s title, and they didn’t.
Just like LeBron returned home to win a title for Northern Ohio, Nowitzki wants to win another title in Dallas.
If Draymond Green and the Splash Brothers care to join Nowitzki in Dallas, I’m sure he would gladly pick them up at the airport. But Nowitzki isn’t leaving the Mavericks for the Warriors – or for any other franchise.
Period. Paragraph. End of story. Please stop the nonsense.