In the wake of Kobe Bryant's massive extension with the Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki said Monday that he would not be signing an extension and will become a free agent this summer. He didn't want to talk at length about his future, humorously alluding to a meeting between his shooting coach and Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, via NBA.com's Jeff Caplan:
Dirk Nowitzki won’t get Kobe-like extension
Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki will become a free agent this summer, he says.
Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Spor
“I don’t really want to look forward too much,” Nowitzki said. “I’m not going to extend, obviously. I want to play the season out and then we can talk about the summer. I want to have a good season. I want to have an injury-free season and then [his coach/agent] Holger’s going to take his leather coat and meet with [Cuban] in the bunker suite and we’ll go from there.”
Holger is Holger Geschwindner, Nowitzki’s longtime personal coach from Germany and de facto agent. The reason for not following Garnett, Duncan and now Bryant with an extension, could be two-fold: Cuban prefers to allow contracts to expire, and Nowitzki can gauge how the roster shapes up during the summer before agreeing to years and a dollar figure.
Nowitzki has previously stated his desire to remain in Dallas until 2015-2016. Last summer, he said he would be willing to take a significant pay cut on his next deal. With his and Shawn Marion’s contracts coming off the books at the end of the season, the Mavericks’ plan will be to re-sign Nowitzki and strengthen the supporting cast at the same time.
On the season, the 35-year-old Nowitzki is averaging 20.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game.
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