Dirk Nowitzki and Kevin Garnett were both all-time great power forwards who played against one another plenty of times. Kevin Garnett is enshrined in the Naismith Hall of Fame, and Dirk Nowitzki will likely be there in the future. They often competed fiercely against one another.
An article by Tim Cato of The Athletic revealed that the Dirk Nowitzki-Kevin Garnett rivalry began when Dirk Nowitzki “began talking back” to Garnett on the court. Kevin Garnett was well-known in the league as a trash-talker, and it’s clear that standing up to Garnett was “a big part of his growth and maturation”.
Nowitzki’s first real rivalry was against Kevin Garnett. He didn’t like the way Nowitzki talked, the phrases he’d say on the court, and Nowitzki didn’t like Garnett either. It wasn’t until Nowitzki began talking back to Garnett that they began developing mutual, if begrudging, respect.
Wilson often talked trash to opponents from the bench. It was a moment when Nowitzki stole one of his favorite lines that made him realize Nowitzki was growing up. In a game against Minnesota, Garnett fell down and Nowitzki, without hesitation, yelled, “Get your ass up, we ain’t through kicking your ass.”
“He finally got the confidence in himself to be able to go back at ’em,” Lewis says, “and that was a big part of his growth and maturation.”
Sometimes, competitors can push you to go even harder on the court. There have been other rival players that motivated Dirk Nowitzki to become the player that he is, such as Kobe Bryant. It is clear that this exact moment was important for Dirk Nowitzki to become the great that we all view him as today.
The growing process paid off though, as Dirk Nowitzki is a franchise legend for the Dallas Mavericks due to him winning the 2011 title. He will forever be remembered as an elite power forward who could do it all offensively, and it is clear that he is immortalized in the minds of fans.
