In his 11th season, Mavericks Forward Dirk Nowitzki is about to reach a major scoring milestone. He's just 16-points away from 20,000 points and that puts him in elite NBA company.
"It's an unbelievable milestone," Nowitzki says. "I mean, looking back, eleven years ago, I don't think none of you guys thought I could score 1,000."
That is true especially when you consider his first game in Seattle on Feb 5, 1999 when Nowitzki had 5 assists, no field goals and 2 free throws.
It's also hard to forget his first trip to Dallas in June of 1998 when then Mavericks Head Coach, Don Nelson was showing him the future site of the American Airlines Center. Nowitzki was a tall skinny kid with long blonde hair.
"It's hard to recall back then but that floppy headed blonde German kid coming over here," says Donn Nelson, President of Basketball Operations for the Mavericks. "I thought he was going to be good, but we'd be lying if we thought he was going to be this good. A drink of water and the all of sudden he blossoms into this, it's really a cool thing for our fans to be a part of."
Nowitzki met his hero, then Seattle Forward Detlef Schrempf before his first NBA game. Today in German, Nowitzki is bigger than Schrempf and just as popular as Tennis legend Boris Becker and Formula one driver Michael Schumacher.
"He has tremendous respect in our country, because of his character, his work ethic and obviously his accomplishments," says German National Coach Dirk Bauermann.
By reaching 20,000 points, Nowitzki will do something players like John Stockton with 19,711 points, Isiah Thomas with 18,822 points, Rick Berry with 18,395 and Magic Johnson with 17,707 were never able to reach for one reason or another.
Meanwhile, Nowitzki says the record is fine but he still dreams of winning an NBA Championship. "It doesn't mean that much to me as of right now," Nowitzki says. "I'm stills trying to chase my dream and that's win a championship and like I said, all that other stuff is great once my career is over."
Only 33 players in NBA history have ever topped the 20,000 point mark. It's a virtual guarantee that when his playing days are over, Nowitzki will end up in the basketball hall of fame.
The all time leading scorer in NBA history is former Lakers Center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He finished his career with 38,387 points.
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