How Is 37-Year-Old Dirk Nowitzki Still Playing Like a Legitimate NBA All-Star?

MIAMI — The carrot dangling at the end of the stick hasn't changed for Dirk Nowitzki over his 18-year, Hall of Fame-caliber NBA career.

Sure, he won't hoist another MVP trophy above his 7'0" frame, and his Dallas Mavericks seem a step or two shy of championship contention.

But even if the destination isn't where he'd like it to be, the drive is the same as it's always been.

"I love competing at the highest level against the best athletes in the world," Nowitzki told Bleacher Report after Dallas' 106-82 loss to the Miami Heat on Jan. 1. "I still enjoy the grind of working out, lifting weights and doing all the extra conditioning.

"Once the fun is gone from doing all that, I have to retire."

Judging by his recent body of work, he's in no rush to iron out his retirement plans. Even as the 37-year-old gets deeper into his fight with Father Time, his competitive edge remains razor-sharp.

With a game built more around skills and savvy than explosive athleticism, he's better equipped than most to withstand the physical costs of aging. He can't carry as heavy a load as he once did—his 30.1 minutes per night are the third-lowest he's ever logged—but his per-36-minute production has barely taken a hit.

Category	2015-16 Season	Career Average
Points Per 36	20.5	22.5
Rebounds Per 36	8.0	8.1
Assists Per 36	2.4	2.6
Field-Goal Percentage	45.9	47.5
Three-Point Percentage	38.8	38.3
Free-Throw Percentage	89.3	87.9
Player Efficiency Rating	20.5	23.2

"He's been good since I've known of Dirk as a basketball player," said Dwyane Wade, who has twice battled Nowitzki in the NBA Finals (2006, 2011). "You've had to game-plan for him. That shows a lot about how he's taken care of himself."

Nowitzki has made 1,298 regular-season appearances during his career—the fourth-highest mark among active players and 17th-highest in NBA history. He's only missed more than nine games once in a season, losing 29 contests of the 2012-13 campaign mostly due to arthroscopic surgery on his right knee.

His resume reads like that of a basketball legend: 13 All-Star selections, 12 All-NBA honors, an MVP in 2006-07, a Finals MVP in 2011, the sixth-most points scored in league history (28,685 and counting). The only thing left for him to do on the hardwood is repeat some of the successes he's previously enjoyed.

But his fire's still burning—no matter the environment.

"All he wants to do is win," Dallas swingman Wesley Matthews said. "He's definitely competitive, there's no doubt about that. Shooting drills, obviously games, he wants to win all the time."

Craig Mitchelldyer/Associated Press/Associated Press

It seems like there should be a greater secret behind all this, that Nowitzki may have unearthed the proverbial fountain of youth to keep himself relevant in a game typically ruled by world-class athletes.

At the very least, one might think he's contorted his talents to fit a league that looks nothing like the one he joined in 1998.

But that hasn't happened.

Nowitzki's craftiness and shooting stroke were both built to withstand the test of time. That's why the aging process hasn't bothered guys like him (20.5 player efficiency rating) or 39-year-old Tim Duncan (17.1) the way it has those who leaned more heavily on their athleticism, like Kobe Bryant (12.9) and Kevin Garnett (13.7).

"He's the same guy," Wade said of Nowitzki. "Dirk has shown what it's like to really be a part of an organization and a team and caring about the success of those over worrying about the individual. It's really special.

"These last couple years, you've really seen him giving to the team—whether they've been a good team, whether they haven't had a great season, he's just played good basketball. He still tries to play winning basketball."

Perhaps Nowitzki's secret to sustainability, then, is simplicity.

He has adjusted his routine, saying, "When you're older, you've gotta put in a lot of work." However, the things that have always contributed to his greatness continue to keep him entrenched near that same level.

He remains a lethal shooting threat from anywhere on the floor. His step-back stroke is still one of the game's most unguardable shots. If he's slowed a step along the way, that'd be news to his defenders. He ranks in the 95th percentile of isolation finishers, converting those looks at a clip of 1.23 points per possession.

He's one of several late-30-somethings in the All-Star discussion, ranking 11th among Western Conference frontcourt players after the first voting returns.

But unlike Duncan (8.7 points per game) and Bryant (34.1 field-goal percentage), Nowitzki's support isn't solely tied to his legacy. There's a performance-based argument to be made on his behalf.

With a track record like this, so much of Nowitzki's praise nowadays is of the reflective variety. His past accomplishments were so great that his current ones all carry some degree of historical significance.

"You think of Dallas, you think of Dirk. Always," Wade said. "He's one of the greatest players of all time. Some people like to say [best] international players; he's one of the greatest players in NBA history, period."

So, what keeps an all-time great coming back for more? Taking every step as if there isn't a legendary path behind him.

"He's a guy that doesn't act as if he's better than anyone," said Mavs guard Devin Harris. "He enjoys being one of the guys."

There's a literal aspect to those words. Nowitzki, a franchise icon, is willingly paid like "one of the guys." He's collecting a salary of just $8.33 million this season. That puts him 92nd league-wide, in between Brandon Jennings ($8.34 million) and Corey Brewer ($8.2 million).

By taking such a bargain-priced contract, Nowitzki gave Dallas the one thing still powering him through offseason conditioning, early-morning workouts and countless training sessions: an opportunity to compete.

"It's not easy, but I did a lot of work this summer, whether it's lifting weights or my legs, keeping in good shape," he said. "As long as I'm still enjoying it, I'm gonna try to ride it as long as I can."

It's hard to imagine anyone asking him to stop—save for perhaps those defenders still searching for a way to slow him down.

All quotes obtained firsthand. Unless otherwise noted, statistics used courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com and current through games played Jan. 3.

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