Dirk Nowitzki | Dallas Mavericks

Dirk Nowitzki | Dallas Mavericks

Dirk Nowitzki | Dallas Mavericks
Dirk Nowitzki was born in Würzburg, Germany in 1978. His mother was a professional basketball player in Europe, and his sister was a track and field star. Dirk first attracted U.S. attention in 1997 when he was 19 and played in the Nike-sponsored "Hoop Heroes Tour", where he went up against Charles Barkley and other NBA stars. In talking about Dirk's basketball talents, Barkley said: "The boy is a genius. If he wants to enter the NBA, he can call me". A year later, Dirk was drafted from the German DJK Würzburg basketball club by the Milwaukee Bucks and was immediately traded to the Dallas Mavericks (Mavs GM Don Nelson engineered trades that year that brought both Nowitzki and Steve Nash to the team). Dirk struggled in his first year averaging only 8.2 points and 3.4 rebounds per game, and he thought about going home to Germany. However things turned around fast and his game production improved to 17.5 points and 6.5 rebounds under new owner Mark Cuban in the 1999 - 2000 season. Dirk is a 10-time all-star and led the Mavericks to 11 consecutive NBA playoff appearances and the 2011 NBA World Championship. He is the first European player (Nowitzki is a seven-time European Player of the Year winner) to be awarded the NBA Most Valuable Player award. Dirk's career average is 23 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. He founded the "Dirk Nowitzki Foundation," that has provided help to a number of charities including Habitat for Humanity, Make-a-Wish Foundation and the YWCA. Dirk was scheduled to earn $19,092,873 for the 2011 - 2012 NBA season.

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Dirk lives in a home that was built in 2003 in Dallas. It is 9,215 square feet with 5 bedrooms, 5 baths and a tennis court. It is worth about $6 million.

Source: virtualglobetrotting.com