By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Besides attending the NBA Berlin Game 2026 presented by Tissot on Thursday, Dirk Nowitzki discussed several topics, including the partnership between the NBA and FIBA to create a new top-tier league in Europe, unofficially labeled as NBA Europe.
“We do not have any locations yet, and it is supposed to start in a year and a half. Seriously, respect. That is a tough timeframe,” he talked about the current status of the project in a media session with Sports Illustrated, before the first-ever NBA Regular Season game in his home country of Germany.
“The European model with promotion and relegation keeps games interesting,” he continued. “It is a very, very important part of what our European sports culture is based on. It makes the games more exciting. In the NBA, if you have a bad first half of the season, you basically have nothing left for the last 40 games. That makes it a little hard to watch. With the European model, there is something to play for right up to the end, for example, in the relegation battles.”
“I am also curious to see how it is going to work. The EuroLeague is still around, and is a good competition,” he added on the current premier club competition of the Old Continent, the EuroLeague.
Calling it a day in 2019, Nowitzki previously served as a special advisor at the Dallas Mavericks, but is currently working as an NBA analyst on Prime Video in the United States. Returning to the Mavs as a GM is far from being a part of his plans.
“I do not think the GM role is something I am considering right now,” he explained. “I always thought that when I retired, I would immediately join the Mavericks management. However, the longer I was out of the business after my playing career ended, the less interesting it became to me. I think it is an incredibly intense job, 24/7, all year round. When the season is over for the players and coaches, and they take a break, the work for GMs just keeps going with the draft, free agency, and trade deadlines. It is an absolute full-time job that I could not imagine doing right now.”
In the interview, Nowitzki also went into the recent incident between Slovenian Luka Doncic and German Dennis Schroder, leading to a three-game league suspension for the Sacramento Kings guard. Familiar and close with both players, he joined forces with then-rookie Doncic through his final NBA campaign and partnered with Schroder for the senior national team of Germany in EuroBasket 2015.
“I did not talk to them about the incident. I heard what supposedly happened. That is unfortunate, of course. They have history. They’re both incredibly competitive, so there is always some trash talk involved over the years. Even in this year’s EuroBasket. A bit of pushing and shoving on the court is part of the game. But after the game, all that should really be forgotten. Normally, things happening on the court stay there. In this case, I do not know exactly what happened, but it is unfortunate. And I hope something like that does not happen again,” he said.
Spending his entire 21-year NBA career with the Mavericks, his playing days were headlined by a championship in 2011 as the Most Valuable Player of the Finals.