Honors, jobs and family life
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The new life of Dirk Nowitzki
Dallas The Würzburger has been retired since April 2019. He never gets bored – he advises his old team, steps in as a TV commentator and is honored again and again. Most of all, he enjoys his private life.
In Würzburg they remain stubborn in Franconia: a street or a square will only be named after Nowitzki after his death, according to the city council. So be it custom and stay with it. In his adopted home Dallas, on the other hand, it is not only the street by the basketball arena that is named after Nowitzki. A matching bronze statue is currently being cast. Its unveiling soon will be the final act in Dirk Nowitzki’s transformation into the former athlete, the living legend. The penultimate happened on Thursday night: With fireworks and confetti, a stylized jersey was ceremoniously pulled under the ceiling of the hall as a sign that Nowitzki’s shirt number 41 will never be awarded again by his team. 41 members of the local symphony orchestra played, Nowitzki wavered between jokes, sobs and declarations of love to his wife Jessica and their children Malaika, Max and Morris.
When the Würzburg resigned in April 2019 at the age of 40, he did so after 21 seasons with the same team – a record presumably for eternity. The same goes for the nearly $ 200 million salary that he has waived over the years in order to have more budget for better players.
During his summer breaks, he sensationally led the German national team to bronze medal in the 2002 World Cup, silver in 2005 and the Olympic Games in 2008. At the NBA championship, Nowitzki and his team failed again and again – particularly dramatically in 2006 in a final series believed to have been won against Miami. The sports world copied him – too old, too soft, too nice. Nowitzki’s revenge was all the more triumphant: In 2011, he led Dallas to the first title in Mavericks history against the “super team” of arch rivals Miami, which was clearly superior on paper.
In the ten years that followed, however, not a single play-off round was won. Last summer, the leadership of the team was completely replaced after many years. On Nowitzki’s vote, Jason Kidd, the playmaker of the championship team, came as the new head coach. Nowitzki has been a part-time team advisor since then: “I am there and help when I can, but I can still spend a lot of time with the kids.” He also enjoyed homeschooling, learned to play chess on the side and kept a kind of diary. With his foundation, on the one hand, he provides young trainers with value-oriented leadership. On the other hand, it funds other charities, from food banks in Texas to orphanages and skate parks in Kenya.
In the summer he traveled with the family through Europe, he told his biographer Thomas Pletzinger, from Sweden via Würzburg to Italy. Here and there he met admirers: “It is of course incredibly touching that there is such a fan somewhere in the middle of Tuscany.” After a quarter of a century in sport, he enjoys unfamiliar freedom: pizza and wine instead of endless training , Games and travel across the United States.
Nowitzki spontaneously stepped in as a co-commentator on the TV broadcast of a game of his Dallas Mavericks. It also rained hymns of praise for this. Best saying: “As a defender I was miserable, but I almost always scored more than my opponent. So I said to my teammates: ‘If you did that too, we would win every game!’ “
Click here for the photo gallery: Dallas Mavericks pay tribute to Dirk Nowitzki with a number under the roof
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