Dirk Nowitzki had a very entertaining NBA career that had everything. The Dallas Mavericks legend had an intense journey to glory and sometimes had to endure painful situations.
Talking with Rachel Nichols, Nowitzki spoke about winning the MVP award in 2007, a couple of weeks after losing in the first round of the playoffs against the 8th seed in the conference.
“You know, I was embarrassed. I let the city and my team down and all I wanted to do was go somewhere nobody knew me and go on vacation or something. And then, sure enough, I got the call from the NBA, ‘Hey, you cannot leave yet or quite yet. There’s a chance you might get the MVP.’ And I remember saying, ‘I’ll just give it to somebody else.’ Not this year. I was still so hurt, I was still so embarrassed about it.”
Nowitzki recalled that the league put pressure on him, and he had to be present when the award was given, which wasn’t pleasant for him.
“We had to do a press conference and David Stern flew in. It was some of the most uncomfortable moments of my career. I got to say, standing there, and having a suit on, and having to talk about what happened two weeks earlier. All I wanted to do was be gone. I took it like a man, talked about it and addressed it right away how disappointed I still was. And, of course, I look back now at the MVP trophy, it’s amazing.”
Dirk Nowitzki says winning MVP after losing in the first round was one of the most embarrassing moments of his career
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— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) April 19, 2023
This had to be really painful for Dirk, who looked set to finally become an NBA champion with the Mavericks. After losing the 2006 Finals, they had renewed expectations, but the ‘We Believe’ Warriors had different plans.
In the end, he couldn’t change anything, and the league gave him his MVP trophy, but Dirk wasn’t happy at all at that moment.
Dirk Nowitzki Had Revenge With The Most Memorable Playoff Run Of All Time
Four years later, Dirk would become a total legend in Dallas and the NBA, going all the way to the Finals and winning the championship against one of the most iconic Big 3s in recent years to complete an incredible run.
Nowitzki had to go through a lot of difficult rivals to make it to the biggest series of all, and once he landed there, the final boss looked unbeatable for some. In the end, he rose to the challenge, played beautiful basketball, and led his team to the promised land after many years of trying without success.
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