Dirk Nowitzki Comments on Retirement Plans, Health and More

A day after taking his fourth first-round loss in the last five years, Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki announced he'll be back in 2016-17 to try it all again.  

"I definitely won't retire. That's out of the question. I felt great this year," Nowitzki said Tuesday, per ESPN.com's Tim MacMahon.

Nowitzki, who turns 38 on June 19, has a player option for $8.69 million next season. He said, per Bobby Karalla of the team's official site, following Monday's 118-104 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder that he intends to honor his contract, which means he'll likely be picking up that option. The team-friendly deal was meant to give Dallas room to sign a superstar-laden supporting cast, but things haven't worked out as planned.

The Mavs limped their way to a 42-40 regular-season record and were dispatched in five games by Oklahoma City. Nowitzki was left to play without second- and third-leading scorers Chandler Parsons and Deron Williams for much of the series due to injuries. Parsons may have already played his last game in a Mavericks uniform two years after being hailed as a co-star; he holds a player option for 2016-17 that's likely to be declined.

Once again, that left Nowitzki as a man on an island as coach Rick Carlisle tried to make the most out of a roster cobbled together on the veteran scrap heap. Wesley Matthews, signed to a $70 million contract last summer, struggled in his return from an Achilles rupture. By Game 5, Nowitzki's best teammates were arguably J.J. Barea and Raymond Felton—two guys who would be 10- to 15-minute players on most good teams.

“Any Mavericks player who walks on the court has just laid it all out,” owner Mark Cuban said after the game, per MacMahon. “There’s nobody that we look at and say, ‘Well, he could have played harder.’ I mean, blood, sweat and tears, this is a gutty group that I’m proud of.”

The Mavericks will be loaded with cap space this summer, but so will 75 percent of the league. The new television deal is going to create a Wild West atmosphere to free agency, with max contracts soaring into the $30-million-per-year range for veterans. Teams are going to have more money to spend than ever, which makes a team like Dallas at less of an advantage than before.

As the last few seasons have proved, any team with Nowitzki and Carlisle is going to be competitive. They've been the two mainstays amid a revolving door of players. It's come to a screeching halt during the postseason, but if Cuban can find at least one more star this summer, the Mavs could at least make their way to the second round a year from now.

 

Contract info via Spotrac.

Follow Tyler Conway (@jtylerconway) on Twitter.