Dirk Nowitzki was recently inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2023. He is best known for his 21-year career with the Dallas Mavericks, where he won a championship.
He won a single NBA championship in 2011 in a rematch against the Miami Heat, where Dirk was also named the Finals MVP and won his only ring alongside Jason Kidd. The Mavericks won the finals 4-2.
Nowitzki was also a standout player for the German national team, winning a bronze medal at the 2002 FIBA World Championship. He was the all-time leading scorer for the German national team multiple times during the FIBA tournaments.
What is the NBA team that Dirk Nowitzki used to hate?
During the 2023 Hall of Fame ceremony, Dirk Nowitzki answered some questions on the red carpet and Tim Bontemps picked up one of his answers where he said: “I’m not gonna lie, I used to hate the Spurs.” But despite that, Dirk also said that there was a lot of mutual respect between the two franchises.
The two teams had a heated rivalry in the 2000s, and the Spurs eliminated the Mavericks from the playoffs three times in that decade. However, Nowitzki said that he has since developed respect for the Spurs organization. The rivalry between the Spurs and Mavericks dates back to 1980. The Spurs have a winning record in the all-time series, 135-96.
