Ahead of his induction into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame this Saturday, Dirk Nowitzki has been appearing on numerous interviews reminiscing about his days on the NBA courts. The fourteen All-Star player, who played for the Mavericks during all of his illustrious career, recalled the struggles he faced in his first years in Texas.
The German center didn’t only have to endure getting used to the sport in the United States, but also overcame the culture shock as all he knew before becoming a professional was life back in Europe.
In a recent interview with Rachel Nichols, the former athlete joked about one of the biggest lessons he ever learned when starting out his life in Dallas. He recalled how he didn’t even know how to turn on the car’s air conditiong and would sweat every time he drove!
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“I was driving it around, it worked great. And of course, the players were always killing me when I drove up to practice or the plane,” he said.
Nowitzki revealed that in his rookie year, the NBA decided to shorten the campaign to 50 games, so he thought it wasn’t worth it to buy a car as he would return to Europe once the season was over. So he opted to rent a car for the time being.
“They all had their fancy cars, their SUVs, and the Hummer was big at the time and I had my little rental car,” he confessed. “And so, we’re getting into April and May because the season was shifted and it was getting hot out. It was getting warm already and I’ll come to the games and I’ll be in the lobby sweating… I’m walking in the locker room and I’m sweating a bit and they’re like, ‘Why are you sweating?’”
The young German, who didn’t want to be bullied by his teammates, would tell them that it was really hot outside. Eventually, someone helped out and showed him how to press the A/C button in order for cool air to come out.
“I was like, ‘Oh I was wondering how that worked.’ Growing up, the car I had at 18, I didn’t have A/C. Germany doesn’t get that hot, so I did not know about the A/C button. So that was a valuable lesson for sure,” Nowitzki shared.
Former Mavs coach reveals how the Bucks rejected the opportunity of keeping Nowitzki in his rookie year
The seven-foot athlete came all the way from Germany to become the ninth overall pick in the 1998 NBA Draft, first selected by the Milwaukee Bucks and then traded to the Mavs. In his debut year, he ended the campaign with averages of 8.2 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.0 assist over 47 contests.
Take a look at the scenes from Draft Day back in 1998, which took place in Vancouver, Canada that year:
“The Milwaukee Bucks wanted ‘Tractor’ Traylor. We had no interest in ‘Tractor’ Traylor,” his former coach Don Nelson recalled. “So we swapped picks so they could get ‘Tractor’ Traylor and then we thought Dirk would be available because we were ahead of Boston. We traded picks and I think they gave me a million dollars, too. We got our guy and it worked out perfectly.”
This wound up being one of the most succesful draft nights in Mavericks history, as they signed both Nowitzki and Steve Nash that year.
