Dallas Basketball

WATCH: Mavs Unveil Dirk Nowitzki's Statue Ahead of Matchup with Lakers

Luka Doncic vs. LeBron James is the NBA Christmas Day main course, but the Dallas Mavericks unveiling Dirk Nowitzki's statue in front of American Airlines Center beforehand is as good of an appetizer as you can get.

Dalton Trigg

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Ahead of Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks' Christmas Day matchup against LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, Dirk Nowitzki received a special ceremony in front of American Airlines Center, as his long-awaited statue was unveiled. The statue's pose is one every NBA fan will recognize – Nowitzki's iconic one-legged fadeaway.

"The statue is beautiful," said Mavs coach Jason Kidd, who was also Nowitzki's 2011 championship teammate. "But there is one thing missing ... We're gonna have to go to McDonald's or something to put the little burgers that carried you."

Although Nowitzki will continue to be celebrated by the Mavs for the rest of his life, this statue is one of the biggest ways he can be immortalized, as it will remain forever ... even if Mark Cuban eventually builds a new arena in the future.

The words "Loyalty never fades away" are on the base of Nowitzki's statue.

"It's 21 letters for my 21 years here," said Nowitzki.

It has been three and a half years since Nowitzki retired from basketball. Since then, he's had his jersey retired by both the Mavs and the German national team, he's had a silhouette of his one-legged fadeaway placed on the Mavs' court, he's had a street in front of AAC named after him, and he's even come back to the Mavs in an official 'special advisor' front office role. 

The star-studded Christmas Day matchup between Luka and LeBron is the main course everyone is waiting for, but watching Dirk get his flowers yet again, this time in the form of a massive statue, is about as good of an appetizer as we can get.

When the Mavs retired Nowitzki's No. 41 into the AAC rafters last season, Doncic and the rest of the team responded by completely dismantling the Golden State Warriors in front of an energetic home crowd. Let's see if they can do something similar against the Lakers in what will be their first home Christmas game in 11 years.

For now, enjoy this photo gallery from Nowitzki's ceremony:

Grant Afseth
Grant Afseth
Grant Afseth
Grant Afseth

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Dalton Trigg
DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.

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