Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzkiwill look to his German homeland for playing time if the NBA lockout drags on.
The man who was named the Most Valuable Player in the NBA Finals earlier this year said: “If the lockout still stays strong, I’ve definitely got to look into something there January and February.”
Nowitzki, who sparked the Dallas Mavericks over Miami last June for their first NBA title, is cheering on the Texas Rangers as they battle the St. Louis Cardinals in the 107th World Series.
Nowitzki’s 13 years of living in America have turned him into a baseball fan, but he has had more time to watch than he would have liked since players have been locked out by club owners in a dispute over financial issues.
The first two weeks of the NBA season, scheduled to start next week, have been wiped out already and Nowitzki said he would head back to Germany if it looks like he won’t be playing for the Mavericks soon.
“It’s time to really get back in the routine,” Nowitzki said. “Got to keep the options open, maybe see what’s going on overseas.”
Nowitzki said he is frustrated with the lack of progress in the talks, which broke off Thursday after three days of negotiations with a federal mediator failed to close the wide gap between clubs owners and players.
“We were all hoping, I guess, with the mediator, that something was going to happen, and just talks broke off, so it’s very unfortunate,” he said.
“Hopefully we can get something going here any time soon. But it doesn’t look good.”
Nowitzki has a splint to protect the finger he injured in the NBA Finals, re-injured the digit playing for Germany in the European Championships this summer.
“I took a ball on it in the Euros, so it was kind of like sagging again,” Nowitzki said. “I’ve got to keep it straight for four, six weeks. But it doesn’t bother me at all. It doesn’t hurt or anything.”
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