Mavericks practice has long ended, yet Dirk Nowitzki remains doubled over on the baseline, sweat dripping off his nose and puddling on the hardwood. The stopwatch starts once again, and the 40-year-old, 7-foot veteran unfurls into, well, his version of a sprint. Casey Smith, Dallas’s longtime head athletic trainer, shouts the passing seconds. Nowitzki lumbers through the exercise. “Look at that old man run!” Mavs center DeAndre Jordan crows. The average NBA player can burst to one end of the floor and back in under 10 seconds. Nowitzki finally crosses the baseline 16 ticks after Smith yelled, “Go!”
The next evening, after Dallas dispatches Houston, Nowitzki leans against the back wall of the Mavericks’ weight room.