Dirk Nowitzki’s one-legged fadeaway is right up there with some of the greatest signature moves in basketball history.
The iconic, high-arching shot was part of his arsenal from the beginning and helped him retire in 2019 as an absolute legend in the sport.
Recently, Nowitzki got a chance to talk about his signature move and told fans on Twitter Spaces how it came to be:
“I was trying to create a shot that I could always shoot – that doesn’t take a lot of energy. I was comfortable shooting off one leg. Since I was 15, 16 years old, I always worked on runners and running hook shots.”
“So I was always comfortable shooting off one leg, and so I kinda just made it up on the fly. Honestly, I shot it once and it felt good. And it didn’t a lot of energy, then I shot it a little more and more as part of my repertoire.”
🗣️ Dirk Nowitzki (@swish41) on the genesis of his one-legged fadeaway during last month's 'MY NBA 75' on @TwitterSpaces!
Tune in to the next edition of 'MY NBA 75' at 3pm/et with 75th Anniversary Team’s Dominique Wilkins, @JZFish, @JaredSGreenberg and @ChrisStaples_! #NBA75 pic.twitter.com/SU3etxUKsD
— NBA (@NBA) December 7, 2021
While Dirk isn’t technically the first to implement a one-legged fadeaway into his game, he did it better than anybody else, using his long arms and quick feet to seamlessly shoot over his defender.
And while many of today’s stars (like Kevin Durant and Karl-Anthony Towns) have tried to replicate that move, nobody mastered it as Dirk did.
Today, the Wurzburg native serves as an advisor to the Dallas Mavericks, but it wasn’t tooling ago that he was leading them on the court. In a whopping 21 seasons in the NBA, he was a 14x All-Star, 12x All-NBA player, and a 1x NBA MVP.
No doubt, his name was carved in basketball history when he delivered the Mavericks their first-ever title in 2011, against a talented Miami Heat superteam.
But that jumper will be where his legacy lives on the most. As more and more players add it to their bag, his amazing talent at putting the ball through the hoop will be remembered and revered by fans all around the world.
