DALLAS (105.3 The Fan) - Dallas Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki always valued winning a title over everything else. And on Wednesday during a visit with 105.3 the Fan's Shan and RJ, he confirmed that he once thought about leaving Dallas in order to obtain that goal.
"While I played, I obviously wanted to finish my career here, so the only time I thought about was pre-championship," Nowitzki told Shan and RJ. "When we didn't win it, we didn't win it, that was 10-plus years in the league at this point, and I was thinking 'am I going to win a championship here? Or am I going to go somehwere?"
So where would Nowitzki have gone if he would have let Dallas to try and win his title? One option was Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers, and another was Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns.
Ultimately, however, Dirk signed his extension, and would go on to remain with the Mavs for a total of 21 season -- the longest any NBA player has been tenured with one team.
"I remember Kobe (Bryant) try to get me to come the L.A. at some point, and (Steve Nash) was reaching out to me at some point," Nowitzki said. "But then I signed that four-year deal."
Nowitzki also revealed what it was that ultimately kept him in Dallas, and it was none other than his relationship with Mavs owner, Mark Cuban.
"I think I mentioned that in my jersey retirement, I was a free agent in 2010, really for the first time, and I went to Mark's house," Nowitzki said. "There was no agent involved he said 'Come to my house and we'll figure it out.' And we both kind of went through stuff and how close we were and all the disappointments, and we both got super emotional and had tears in our eyes. And I told hime 'I want to be here.' and he wanted me here. Then we agreed on the four-year extension and ended up winning the championship in year one of that deal."
After that, Nowitzki's career goal was accomplished, and the temptation to leave for the aspirations of a title was gone.
"After that, there was really no need for me to leave," Nowitzki said. "I always wanted to be here. I wanted to be loyal to the city and it worked out great that way."
