Terrell Owens, Dirk Nowitzki Among Top Players at Celebrity Pickleball Showdown

Pro Football Hall of Famer Terrell Owens and Basketball Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki were among those who participated the Celebrity Pickleball Showdown in Dallas on Wednesday.

The showdown consisted of ex-professional athletes mixing with pickleball stars for some friendly exhibitions. Every match featured doubles play with the exception of one singles game. Doubles matches had a running 10-minute clock (with the exception of a five-minute singles match), and the team with the most points at the end of that frame won.

Owens and professional pickleball player Anna Bright (World No. 2 in doubles) defeated Nowitzki and pro Anna Leigh Waters (World No. 1 in singles and doubles), 6-2.

However, Nowitzki got some revenge on T.O. He paired with pro pickleball player Ella Yeh to beat Owens and pro Elsie Hendershot, 8-1.

Owens and Nowitzki each played one more match, and both were close losses.

T.O. teamed with ex-pro tennis player/current World No. 6 singles pickleball player Jack Sock (and later sportscaster Dave Fleming, who served as the emcee) and barely lost to the team of Bright and streamer Tfue, 9-8.

Nowitzki and Tyson McGuffin, a five-time grand slam champion and a four-time national champion, lost to the team of ex-MLB star J.D. Martinez and Bright.

Martinez went 1-2 as well. He lost 7-1 to Waters in the lone singles match of the night. He and Sock also lost a tight one to Tfue and Ben Johns (World No. 1 in doubles, No. 7 in singles), 8-7.

The showdown benefitted the Dirk Nowitzki Foundation via donations and a raffle from the venue, Brookhaven Country Club in Farmers Branch, Texas.

"The Dirk Nowitzki Foundation is dedicated to putting children first and assisting them through programs focusing on their well-being, health and education. The Dirk Nowitzki Foundation awards grants annually and funds projects to nonprofit organizations which run true to the overall mission of the Dirk Nowitzki Foundation. The Foundation lifts up children who are affected by illness, poverty, abuse and neglect through proper channels of guidance and directs them on a path to success."

The event occurred amid the ongoing Jenius Bank Pickleball World Championships, which will run through Sunday.