Passau (AP) – Former basketball superstar Dirk Nowitzki was teased as a teenager. “It was not an easy time, but you try to get through,” said the 43-year-old from Würzburg on Thursday evening at the “People in Europe” lecture series of the “Passauer Neue Presse”. The teasing also “drove him to basketball a bit”, where he could be among people of the same size. Nowitzki was, in his own estimation, a “rag” as a teenager; Classmates would have called him a “skeletor” because his bones protruded so much.
Nowitzki played in the NBA for the Dallas Mavericks from 1998 until his retirement in 2019. With the Texans, the 2.13 meter tall athlete became champions in 2011. He continues to live in Dallas with his wife and three children. “I want to be there for the children, have an impact on them and raise good people,” said Nowitzki at the panel discussion.
He would support his young children later if they wanted to pursue a professional career. Nowitzki would use his veto on one sport: “American football is too rough for me.”
The former NBA star is an ambassador for the children’s charity Unicef, looks after foundations, advises the Dallas Mavericks and is an investor. Nowitzki is currently taking a business course at college.
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