Unlike Dwyane Wade, I can kinda see why Dirk Nowitzki would maybe be sorta contemplating retiring. He’s not looking very spry out there, and that’s putting it generously. He can kind of do stuff on offense still, because the thing with moving on offense is that you know which direction you’re going so you can get ready for it. On defense, he’s not doing much. Changing directions isn’t happening. Even his giant swipes at the ball as opposing players go right past him don’t seem to be as effective.
But he can still dunk. And I maintain that if a player can still dunk, they should be forced to continue playing in the NBA. Yes, I realize that means that Julius Erving should still be playing. And he should. Because he can still dunk. Dunking is such a rare skill among the world’s populace that anyone who can execute one has to be preserved. The NBA can’t just let still-dunking players out into the world at large.
And besides, we still haven’t seen any Doncic-to-Nowitzki lobs. I was promised at least one of those lobs a game by Mark Cuban, and the season total still sits at zero. When I heard that Dirk had dunked it, I admit, I got my hopes up. But it turns out that it wasn’t a lob, just a lame pass from Courtney Lee, and not only that, Luka Doncic wasn’t even playing! This has been a disappointing season for that and for many other reasons for the Mavericks, and I’m thinking Dirk doesn’t want to go out this way. He hasn’t even said he wants to retire yet, come on.