Dirk Nowitzki thanks Steve Nash and Michael Finley for saving him from homesickness

In a great interview with journalist Graham Bensinger, Dirk Nowitzki looked back on his difficult beginnings when he arrived in Dallas. The German went through some pretty dark times since he ate fast food morning, noon and night, he hadn’t furnished his apartment, and didn’t even know how to fill out a check.

The legend of the Mavericks also says that he also showed up at training with a rental car, causing the hilarity of his teammates, who even had to show him how to activate the air conditioning, rather useful in the region! Behind it all, he also missed his family and loved ones.

“All I had seen of the city was the television series ‘Dallas’, which my parents watched a little. I was a bit shocked to see how big the city was already, with the skyscrapers. I had no idea what to expect at all. It blew me away a bit. Of course, there was the language barrier at the beginning when I arrived, and a little culture shock. I had lived with my parents all my life. And there, it’s not like I’m two hours away, but I’m 11 hours away. So it was hard to know anyone, not to have my family close to me. It was hard. My mentor, when things were not going well from time to time, I called him. There were times when we were on the phone every day, before every game, after, and if something was really wrong, he would arrive two days later, to be there for me. We trained, we discussed and in general it helped me a lot”, did he remember.

Need to change your mind

It can be said that adapting to the American lifestyle took a bit of time, and Dirk Nowitzki never misses an opportunity to thank Steve Nash and Michael Finley for their help during this time.

“I give them a lot of credit. They have been so great with me from the start, in the way they support me. Steve always picked me up to go out when I was homesick. We would go see movies or eat something.

Steve Nash quickly realized that he just had to try to entertain him and that everything would eventually be fine on the field.

“At the time, he was so focused on basketball. I just wanted to bring him other things to see, take his mind off things and see if he liked it or not. We went to see auteur films (independent films), even if he dragged his feet, but we laughed about it. He was a young boy, full of talent, who was homesick, who did not feel very well.slipped Steve Nash.

” I was starting to think to myself, “Did I make the right decision? “. Should I have stayed in Europe? Go to the University ? »

Michael Finley also knew that Dirk Nowtizki was going to end up finding his marks, in particular thanks to his work ethic. There were, however, times when Dirk Nowitzki’s father openly wondered if his son was going to last long in the NBA. Because on the ground, everything did not go as planned.

“There were games where I didn’t play at all. I had never considered that. I had never felt that in my life and my career until then. These were difficult times. When you don’t even come into play. But that’s also normal, when things don’t go your way, doubt arises a little… I was starting to say to myself: “Did I take the right decision ? “. Should I have stayed in Europe? Go to the University ? I don’t know if I’ve gone so low as to call it depression. What I did was I kept fighting. If I hadn’t played, while the others passed in front of the press, I was already on the bike, I was sweating, I returned to the field to shoot, where the next day, I arrived two hours before the start. ‘coaching. If I don’t play, I have to work harder. Off the pitch, homesickness was the worst.”

By dint of falling and getting up, everything finally returned to normal and Dirk Nowitzki was then able to begin his constant progression towards the heights. Or as Steve Nash would say: “After a while, he didn’t miss his mother as much, and he became one of the greatest players of all time.”