Basketball star: Dirk Nowitzki nominated for the NBA Hall of Fame

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Federico Gambarini / dpa

Germany's basketball idol Dirk Nowitzki is expected to be inducted into the NBA's Hall of Fame next year.

As the guardians of the Hall of Fame announced on Wednesday, the Würzburg native is among the nominees for admission in 2023. For a player of Nowitzki's caliber, this is considered a formality.

Nowitzki, who played 21 seasons in the North American professional league with the Dallas Mavericks, retired from playing in 2019. To date, he is the sixth-best points-scorer in league history and the most successful scorer born outside of the United States.

With the Mavericks, who took his shirt number 41 under the ceiling in January of this year, he became NBA champion and most valuable player of the final series in 2011.

Nowitzki was voted an All-Star 14 times and one of the 76 best players in history in 2020/21.

Nowitzki statue in front of Dallas Arena

As part of his "retirement" ceremony, in which it was solemnly sealed that his former team would no longer issue his shirt number, it was announced that a Nowitzki statue would be built in front of the arena in Dallas.

This will be revealed next Sunday.

In addition to the 44-year-old, the European NBA legends Pau Gasol (Spain) and Tony Parker (France) are also nominated, as is Dwayne Wade, who enchanted the league alongside superstar LeBron James with the Miami Heat for several years.

Also on the list are coaching legend Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs and coach Becky Hammon, who, as his assistant, became the first woman to coach an NBA team at a game.

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