FDirk Nowitzki changed the whole of basketball for former NBA pro Paul Zipser. “He went to the USA at a completely different time, when it was not a matter of course that a European who is not a muscleman could throw,” said the FC Bayern Munich winger of the German Press Agency. “He changed the entire sport with his style.”
Nowitzki (44) receives a hitherto unique honor in German basketball. The number 14 of the former superstar will no longer be awarded by the German Basketball Association, his jersey will also be pulled under the ceiling of the hall for the German team’s European Championship opener on Thursday (8.30 p.m.) in Cologne against France.
“Dirk is one of the few real icons across sports,” said Zipser (28), who used to be under contract with the Chicago Bulls. Nowitzki, the longtime professional of the Dallas Mavericks, is “a German sports legend.”
Nowitzki ended his career in the national jersey after losing the 2015 European Championship preliminary round in Berlin. Among other things, he led the German team to bronze at the 2002 World Championships and silver at the 2005 European Championships. His NBA career in Dallas, during which he became the first European to win the championship in 2011, ended in 2019.
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