Dirk to opt out of contract, plans to remain with Mavericks
Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki plans to opt out of the final year of his current contract, which would pay him $8.6 million next season, he announced during an appearance on 1310 The Ticket on Monday.
"We had one more year on the contract, but I think this is the right thing to do," Nowitzki said. "We're going to sit with (owner) Mark (Cuban) and (general manager) Donnie (Nelson) obviously over the next few weeks and figure out how to improve this franchise again."
The 37-year-old hasn't been content with Dallas' lack of success since hoisting the Larry O'Brien trophy in 2011. He hopes his opting out will put the wheels in motion to hopefully improve the roster.
"Ever since after the championship, we've been basically a first-round exit. We've been a seven, eight seed. We've only won a few playoff games, and obviously the goal was to compete at the highest level in my last couple of years," Nowitzki said. "So there is some moving to do, some thinking, some putting our heads together the next few weeks heading into free agency, heading into the draft. So this is just one move that hopefully starts a chain reaction for us to get better again, to compete really at a high level. We'll see how it goes."
Nowitzki, who previously reiterated that he intended to finish off his three-year deal with the franchise before even considering retirement, echoed those sentiments by saying Dallas is where he wants to be.
"That would have been the only scenario where I go somewhere at the end to kind of hang on and maybe try to win one," Nowitzki said, referring to what he might have done if he hadn't won a title. "But ever since I won a championship here and we did that, I want to finish my career here. I always said that. The only scenario where I'll try to go somewhere is if we're rebuilding, if we really say, 'This is the end of the line. We tried every which way and we can't go any further and we're starting basically with five rookies.'"
Nowitzki has spent his entire 18-year career as a member of the Mavericks, ranking near or at the top of all statistical categories, including games played (1,340), points (29,491), rebounds (10,540), and 3-pointers (1,701).
He averaged 18.3 points on 44.8-percent shooting, 6.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 0.7 blocks, with a player efficiency rating of 19 in 75 appearances this season for Dallas. The Mavs were bounced in the opening round of the playoffs in five games by the Oklahoma City Thunder as the sixth seed.