Dirk: Today's NBA more about 'making money and winning' than loyalty
It's extremely rare in the modern NBA to see someone stick it out with a franchise for many years.
Including the upcoming season, there are only nine active players who will have spent their entire career (10 seasons or more) with one franchise.
One of those players is Dirk Nowitzki, who is entering his 20th year with the Dallas Mavericks after inking a two-year, $10-million contract over the summer. The 39-year-old will be the first to acknowledge how uncommon it is for talent to show the level of loyalty he has, because today's player seemingly has different priorities.
Related: Dirk hopes to play out entire contract with Mavs
"The new NBA is a little different. It's abut making money and winning and not as much about being loyal anymore," said Nowitzki during a recent appearance on SiriusXM NBA Radio.
The 13-time All-Star has even taken pay cuts in the past so management would have the financial resources to surround him with a stronger core to continue competing at the highest level. Having earned more than $245 million in salary since his rookie year, it's not as though Nowitzki is in dire straits.
Only one other player can boast about having played for one team as long as Nowitzki has, and that's former Los Angeles Lakers icon Kobe Bryant. Frankly, the Mavericks have been so successful since Nowitzki's arrival in 1998-99 that there haven't been many reasons from a basketball standpoint for him to want out. He also loves the fan base, has a tight relationship with the owner, and has come to bleed Mavericks blue.
"I think I’m old school," Nowitzki said. "Some of these guys that are now stars are obviously younger. The business has changed a bit. You know, I never knew what to expect when I came to Dallas, but everything just came together here. The way, when I got here, that the community embraced me and wanted me to succeed.
"(Mark) Cuban buying the team at the end of my second year was a huge part of why I was here my entire career. He was a huge supporter of mine. He’s a friend of mine and he’s always supported me throughout my career. So I was here, I belong to this community, and for me, it was always easy for me to be loyal."