Dirk Nowitzki has officially announced that he will be retiring from the German National Team. The Dallas Mavericks’ power forward has had an incredible season thus far, somewhat surprising due to a drop off last year. However, despite his great play, he has made clear that he will no longer play for his native country’s national team.
Nowitzki gave his announcement through Bild (h/t to Agence France-Press for the translation):
“The last match at Euro 2015 was my last match for Germany,” the 37-year-old Nowitzki told Bild newspaper.
On that occasion in Berlin on September 10, Germany lost 77-76 to Spain, a loss which knocked them out of the competition.
His retirement announcement came a few days after the International Basketball Federation announced that Germany had failed in a bid to stage one of the Olympic qualifying tournaments this year.
This announcement certainly makes sense. Nowitzki is 37 years old and with the German team failing to qualify for even the first stage of Olympic qualifying, it does not make much sense for him to continue working with the team.
Nevertheless, announcing his retirement from the team does beg the question: how long until Nowitzki retires from the NBA? The big man has played for a long time and last season he looked like a shell of himself. Even with the resurgence he’s enjoying this season, one must wonder whether he wants to continue to do this. He has already cemented himself as one of the all-time greats, changing the very framework of his position, and his legacy is complete with a championship.
As unfortunate as it may be, we may be coming to the end of an era and Nowitzki may be the next player of his generation to officially put the game behind him.
