Dirk Nowitzki’s knee surgery puts a gaping hole in the Dallas Mavericks roster – NBA Feature
For a team that won the NBA championship in 2011, the Dallas Mavericks have had a rather disappointing and fruitless time since then, be it on the court or off the court. The Mavericks barely reached the playoffs last season, after winning the NBA championship the season before. They were looking forward to the free agency in the hopes of signing free agent point guard Deron Williams, but were again disappointed when he re-signed with the Brooklyn Nets. The Mavericks then assembled the best team they possibly could with what was available in free agency, and accepted the fact that they would once again, not be title contenders.
Despite the fact that the Mavericks had a mediocre free agency and offseason, in which other teams improved their talent considerably, the Mavericks were still looking forward to fighting it out in the Western Conference with the current roster and then making another attempt at signing a high profile player in next summer’s free agency.
However, their plans of finishing this season with a respectable seed in the Western Conference received a serious blow when Dirk Nowitzki underwent a minor surgery on his knee to relieve himself from the soreness and swelling that had been bothering him for a few weeks. Nowitzki had the procedure done last week, and is expected to miss six to eight weeks of action. For a team heavily reliant on Nowitzki and his scoring, this was a huge blow before the season had even started.
Although players have recovered from such surgeries in three weeks and doctors are hopeful that the German will return to action before the timeline announced, there is still to consider the fact that he is already in the twilight of his career and rushing him back could lead to complications detrimental both to his future and the team’s season. Nowitzki has been the franchise player for the team for the past many seasons, and takes on a great deal of responsibility in the Mavericks roster, particularly on the offensive end.
With his loss, the team would be in a fix to find a replacement for him, or someone who could provide the input he provided on a regular basis. Unfortunately for the Mavericks, they do not have any player who can take over from Nowitzki, which means role players will have to step up and keep the Mavericks in contention. Elton Brand, O.J. Mayo, Chris Kaman, Dahntay Jones and Darren Collison are the five main players that the Mavericks added to the roster in the offseason, and will now need to somehow plug the hole that has been put in the team due to Nowitzki’s loss.
Nowitzki suffered from the same soreness on his knee at the start of the last NBA season, and had to take time off in January to work on his conditioning and physical health. With the re-emergence of the injury, it may be a red flag for the Mavericks organization as well as Nowitzki. While everyone is hoping that Nowitzki responds well to surgery and is back within the said timeline, there is a fear that the All Star forward, who has already played 14 seasons in the league, might be reaching the end of his career.
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