On June 24th, 1998, fans of the Dallas Mavericks were gifted with a young and raw Dirk Nowitzki from Wurzburg, Germany. In a draft-day trade, Dirk, along with Pat Garrity, were acquired for the draft rights to big man Robert Traylor.
In the same trade, Pat Garrity was immediately redirected to Phoenix for struggling point guard, Steve Nash, who turned out to become one of Dirk’s best friends and a future Hall of Famer.
Understandably at the time, critics were praising the Bucks for the acquisition of Robert Traylor for nimble and unproven foreign big man Dirk Nowitzki.