Dirk Nowitzki has been lighting up scoreboards across the NBA for nearly two decades, but how much do you really know about the Mavericks’ superstar? Here are a few things to know about the NBA’s all-time leading foreign-born scorer.
1. German engineering.
Before he was knocking down shots in Reunion Arena and American Airlines Center, Nowitzki was hanging out at a local gymnasium in his hometown of Wurzburg, Germany. While he’s certainly among the city’s heroes now, it was Dirk’s parents first making headlines. His mother, Helga, starred for the German women’s national basketball team, while his father, Joreg, was an accomplished handball player.