By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The German icon has a potential heir in Harrison Barnes, some intriguing young players with rotation potential around him and a good enough feeling about his body that the 38-year-old might even hang around beyond next season.
But the Mavericks are coming off their worst record (33-49) since 1997-98, the season before Nowitzki arrived. They’ve missed the playoffs twice in five seasons after qualifying 12 straight years. And they still haven’t won a playoff series since winning the franchise’s only championship in 2011.
“It’s an important summer for this franchise, for sure, to head back in the right direction, if you want to say, starting with the draft,” Nowitzki said in the last press conference of the season. “And then free agency is important, too. So, yeah, this is a big summer, but we tend to stand here the last few years and always say it’s a big summer for the franchise.”