Nowitzki considering playing beyond next season
Dirk Nowitzki hasn't made any final decisions yet, but admits he's thought about playing beyond next season.
"Twenty years would sound really, really great," the Dallas Mavericks' longtime franchise player told ESPN Radio's "NBA Insiders" on Sunday, referring to the length of his NBA career if he played through the 2017-18 season. "And next year would obviously be my 19th year, so maybe after this next year I could sign on one more. But I'll just have to wait and see, I think, at this point."
Nowitzki's current contract runs through next season. He has a player option this summer, which he plans on picking up.
"This season I felt good," he said. "Next year we'll see how it goes and then I can make that decision with my family, with (shooting coach) Holger Geschwindner and all my guys that have been working with me for so long ... I can make that decision if I play one more season."
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The NBA's old guard is coming to the end of its playing road. Kobe Bryant will retire next month, and the future plans of Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett are yet to be revealed. Yet Nowitzki remains the most productive of the class that entered the league in the late '90s, his place as the Mavs' go-to scorer still firm.
At age 37, the German 7-footer is averaging 18.7 points per game with near-39 percent 3-point accuracy. His effective field goal percentage of 52.1 this season ranks as the sixth-highest of his 18-year career.
"Stats is never really something I played for," Nowitzki said. "I think if it's no fun anymore to get up in the morning and go to practice, then I better call it a day. I started playing because it's a fun sport to me and I'm gonna quit while it's fun."
As a result, he has no plans to stick around solely to chase Wilt Chamberlain for No. 5 on the all-time scoring list. Going into Monday, Nowitzki is 2,064 points back.
"I'm not going to play another year saying I have to get into the top five. That's never how my mind worked," he said. "As long as I get up in the morning, it's still fun, (and) I don't have to take a bunch of meds to play, I'll probably play one more."