Dirk Nowitzki

Dirk Nowitzki is a German professional basketball player who currently plays for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association. Nowitzki started his career with the Milwaukee Bucks and traded immediately to the Mavericks. Playing with the German national team, Nowitzki has won several trophies and medals including a bronze in 2002 FIBA World Championship, and a silver in EuroBasket 2005, where he was the top scorer as well as the MVP of the tournament in the former one.       

The basketball player is married to Jessica Olsson, sister of Swedish twin footballers Martin Olsson and Marcus Olsson. The couple also shares a daughter, and two sons together.

Son Of Basketball Player  Helga Nowitzki

Dirk Nowitzki was born Dirk Werner Nowitzki to Helga Nowitzki and Jorg-Werner on June 19, 1978, in Wurzburg, Germany. His mother Helga Nowitzki was a professional basketball player and father Jorg-Werner was a professional handball player.

Dirk Nowitzki’s nationality is German and belongs to the Caucasian ethnicity. His older sister Silke Nowitzki, who started her career as a track and field athlete, works for the NBA in International television.

Since childhood day, he has a tall height and was interested in sports. While studying at the Röntgen Gymnasium Grammar School he started playing tennis and handball but later on moved to basketball. 

Career

Dirk Nowitzki joined the local club DJK Würzburg at the age of 15. Later, the former German international basketball player Holger Geschwindner started training him after he witnessed Nowitzki's playing skills. Geschwindner focused his training in pa s sing and shooting exercise, and tactical drills. With his tall height and his great abilities, he made his space in the DJK squad at the age of 16. CAPTION: Dirk Nowitzki SOURCE: Sports Illustrated

At the time Dirk Nowitzki joined DJK, the team was in Second Bundesliga, South Division. In the 1995-96 season, Nowitzki established himself as a starter in the squad and soon became the regular double-digit scorer for the club. The then German national coach, Dirk Bauermann called him the ''greatest German basketball talent of the decade'' after he saw him scoring 24 points in a game for DJK. In 1996-97 seasons, Nowitzki had averaged 19.4 points per game through this could not help the team to get a promotion of higher division.

He was one of the best players in the 1997-98 season which he finished with the fantastic average score of 28.2 points per game, however, he couldn't uplift his club to the first division. Later in the promotion playoffs, Dirk Nowitzki scored 26 points against Freiburg and DJK finally broke its hex to get the promotion. Same year Nowitzki was also voted as German Basketball player of the year.

Dirk Nowitzki was picked in the seventh pick in the 1998 NBA draft by the Dallas Mavericks, became only the fourth German player to be drafted in NBA. With his fantastic average, he was voted runner-up of NBA Most Improved Player Award.

In the 2000-01 NBA season, Nowitzki further increased his scoring average to 28.1 per game. In the very season, he scored 100 3-pointers and 100 blocks to become the second player in NBA history after Robert Horry. Recently he signed a two-year contract on July 27, 2016, with Mavericks.

Dirk Nowitzki started playing for the German national Basketball team in 1997. In his very first tournament with the national team, he participated in the EuroBasket 1999, where the 21-year-old rookie came out as one of the leading German scorers, however, Germany finished seventh and failed to qualify for the summer Olympics 2000.

Nowitzki represented his country in several international tournaments afterward; including the EuroBasket 2001, FIBA World Championship 2002, EuroBasket 2003, EuroBasket 2005, and 2008 Olympics among others. Representing the national team, Nowitzki has won numerous awards such as Bronze in the World Championship in 2002, Silver in EuroBasket in 2005.

Nowitzki was named as the 2011 German Sports Personality of the Year on December 18, 2011, and became the first German basketball player to receive the honor. The following year, he became the first non-American basketball player to be honored with the Naismith Legacy Award.

Ama s sed $140 Million From BasketBall Career

The 40-year-old German basketball player earns a handsome amount of money from his basketball career. According to Celebrity Networth, Nowitzki's current net worth is $140 million. The tabloid confirmed that he receives a total of $25 million in his salary.

He is one of the highest-earning NBA players in history with a gross income of around $242 million in his career. He owns a house in Dallas which worths $3 million.

He rides an R8 car by Audi which costs around $70,000 and also has a Cooper S by Mini, which costs $25,000.

Despite being the renowned and one of the highest-paid basketball player of NBA, Dirk doesn't involve in endorsement deals which he said is to focus on the game.

Shared Three Kids With Wife Jessica Olsson 

Dirk Nowitzki is a married man. Dirk Nowitzki is married to Jessica Olsson, sister of twin Swedish footballers Martin Olsson and Marcus Olsson. The pair got married after dating for two years on July 20, 2012, at Nowitzki's home in Dallas.

This basketball star shares a daughter Malaika Nowitzki (born July 2013) and sons Max Nowitzki (born March 2015) and Morris Nowitzki (born 2016) with his wife Jessica Olsson. He currently lives in Dallas along with his wife and children.

Before, Nowitzki was in a relationship with a German basketball player, Sybille Gerer who represented his local club DJK Wurzburg. They started dating in 1992 and dated for over 10 years before they called it to quit.  CAPTION: Dirk Nowitzki with wife and children SOURCE: Dallas Morning News: Sports

Besides his pa s sion for basketball, he is greatly interested in music and literature. In the past, Dirk Nowitzki was linked with an American Criminal Crystal Taylor.       

His personal life has been featured in the book named Dirk Nowitzki: German Wunderkind which was published in 2004 by journalists Dino Reisner and Holger Sauer.