Prior to a halftime ceremony last night in which he was presented a key to the city by Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, Dirk Nowitzki said his goal is to return to the court sometime in December.
Nowitzki had surgery to remove bone spurs from his left ankle just before the end of last season and his recovery has taken longer than expected. Originally, he was on track to be ready for opening night but tendon soreness delayed his debut.
“It’s just hard when I haven’t done much for eight weeks and there’s a 40-year-old basically starting from scratch to try to get back in shape to play NBA minutes,” Nowitzki said, via ESPN. “Hopefully soon. Hopefully, somewhere in December I’ll be ready and the body will respond the right way.”
Although his on-court contributions have shrunk — last year he averaged the fewest points and minutes per game since his rookie season — when the 2007 NBA MVP does return, he’ll become the first player in NBA history to spend all 21 seasons of their career with the same team.
Until he makes his official debut, Nowitzki shares the record with Kobe Bryant, who retired from the Los Angeles Lakers in 2016 after 20 seasons.
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