Former basketball player Nowitzki sees no future in Germany

Former German basketball player Dirk Nowitzki does not see returning home. Nowitzki, 43, lives with his Swedish wife and three children in Texas. National team coach Gordon Herbert hopes to seduce Nowitzki for a role with the national basketball team, but the former Dallas Mavericks player isn’t keen on it.

“Of course I’ll listen to what Gordon has to say. I’ve known him for some time, and he’s also worked in the Bundesliga,” Nowitzki said of the Canadian basketball coach. “But my life takes place here, and my future also lies in the United States. And then it becomes very difficult to do anything with the national team.”

Nowitzki has been accepted as an ambassador for next year’s European Championships, which will partly be held in Germany in September. The 2.13-meter German led the Dallas Mavericks to the championship in the NBA in 2011. He was also voted as the NBA Finals MVP at the time. Four years earlier, he was the regular season’s best player. Nowitzki is one of the most successful Europeans ever in the NBA.

The number 41, which Nowitzki has always worn with the Mavericks, will be officially “withdrawn” at the beginning of January 5, by hanging the German shirt on the roof of the field. No one is allowed to wear their Dallas club number anymore.