Dirk Nowitzki Says New Teammate Chandler Parsons Owes Him Dinner All Year

Chandler Parsons agreed to a fairly big contract with the Dallas Mavericks this offseason, but he wouldn't have been able to get that money from the team without the help of Dirk Nowitzki. That's why Nowitzki says Parsons has to buy him dinner when the team is on the road this year.

Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Parsons signed a three-year, $46 million deal with Dallas back in July.

How was the team able to spend that kind of money on Parsons? Because Nowitzki took a team friendly deal, signing a three-year, $25 million deal, per ESPN's Marc Stein.

Given the legacy that Nowtizki has built in Dallas, he could've signed a much more lucrative deal. Instead, he put the team first and gave the Mavericks a hometown discount.

However, the 36-year-old does expect his new teammate to reimburse him little by little throughout the year.

"I told him every dinner on the road this year is on him," Nowitzki said, per ESPNDallas.com's Tim MacMahon, "because it's my money anyway."

There's no doubt that Parsons appreciated what Nowitzki did for him. Here's what Parsons told MacMahon:

"

He's the ultimate teammate. I'm very humbled and glad that he did that, because I wanted to be here and I wanted to play here, and I wanted to play with him. That just shows you how much he wants to win. He'll take that big of a pay cut to try to bring a guy like me to try to help him win a championship. 

"

Parsons should definitely buy Nowitzki some dinners throughout the season. The longtime Mavericks star took less money to help the team bring in the free agent.

All Nowitzki is asking is for Parsons to essentially give him some of the money that he left on the table. Buying dinner on every road trip may seem like it would be a lot of money, but it's a pretty reasonable trade-off.