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Why didn’t Dirk Nowitzki join Steve Nash’s Nets staff? Not the right time, or place, he says

Nowitzki calls Nash a ‘natural leader,' but also says he’s ‘over basketball’ right now.

Former Mavericks teammates and longtime buddies Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash traveled and hiked together in July, resulting in Nash tweeting split-screen photos of Nowitzki carrying a long stick and Gandalf the Grey.

Given the hoop explorers' eight-inch height disparity, Nash presumably was Frodo.

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Nowitzki, though, did not need wizard insight to know what was ahead for “Nashy,” as he calls him. Nor was it surprising when Nash, upon being offered the Brooklyn Nets' head coaching job, asked Nowitzki if he would consider being one of his assistants.

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In his first public comments since Nash was named the Nets coach on Sept. 3, Nowitzki told The News that he was flattered and grateful that Nash reached out to him, but ...

“First of all, I don’t know if I could do it anywhere but here,” he said. “That’s of course first. Second, I just think the timing is not right. I love being with the family. I’m so over basketball at this point that it wasn’t even a thought for me.”

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“Here,” of course, is Dallas, where Nowitzki played all 21 of his NBA seasons and continues to live with his wife, Jessica, and their three young children.

Nowitzki, 42, has a standing offer from Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to rejoin the franchise in pretty much any capacity that interests him.

Although this past season’s four-month coronavirus hiatus by all indications will delay the start of the 2020-21 season until January, at soonest, it doesn’t sound as though the extra time will result in Nowitzki rejoining the Mavericks' fold.

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It’s also been long anticipated that a highlight of the 2020-21 season would be Nowitzki’s jersey retirement ceremony inside American Airlines Center and statue-unveiling outside of the arena. But COVID-19 is jeopardizing such plans.

Any notion of retiring Nowitzki’s No. 41 with AAC filled to anything less than full capacity is unthinkable.

Whenever that possibility eventually becomes reality, perhaps Nowitzki will have allowed at least part of his heart to return to basketball.

He said that he watched very little of the playoffs once the Mavericks were eliminated by the Clippers in the first round. He said he watched a few halves of games and the ends of a couple of games in the Miami-Boston and Boston-Milwaukee series.

In Game 1 of the Finals, Nowitzki and other basketball legends served as virtual fans, with Nowitzki “sitting” next to Bill Walton, but that was the Mavericks icon accepting an invitation from the league, not reigniting his NBA passion.

“I’m sure that’ll come back again,” he said. “Once I get past being over basketball, and I’m sure it’ll be in a few years, I’ll be super excited again. But as of right now, other things are just a little more important.”

Last Friday marked 18 months since an emotional Nowitzki announced his retirement after that season’s home finale, on April 9, 2019, against Phoenix.

If you’re wondering about a potential timetable for his return to the NBA, perhaps 46-year-old Nash’s path offers a clue.

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Nash’s last season as a player was 2013-14, with the Lakers, a season in which he played only 15 games due to nerve problems stemming from a leg injury the previous season.

Even after Nash retired in 2015, at age 41, the Mavericks tried to talk him into returning in a backup role.

Since September 2015, Nash had served as a part-time consultant for the Warriors until he accepted the Nets offer last month.

Now Nash will coach Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving and the rest of the Nets while Nowitzki ponders what his next basketball challenge might be, not that he’s in a hurry.

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Perhaps watching Nash and the Nets, as well as the Luka Doncic- and Kristaps Porzingis-led Mavericks, will eventually rekindle his love of the NBA.

“That’s going to be a lot of fun [for Nash] and it’s a lot of challenges, but I think he’s up for it,” Nowitzki said. "To me he was always a natural leader, with his positive attitude.

“He was always the first one to slap people on the butts when things weren’t working. To me, he was one of the most positive teammates I’ve ever been around. I think he’s going to be great. He’ll learn more about the timeout situations, play-calling and stuff like that, but he already has what it takes to be a natural leader, to me.”

Nowitzki was more of a silent leader, but no less effective, by perpetually being one of the Mavericks' most tireless workers while also willing Dallas to victories.

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How might those qualities serve Nowitzki and the Mavericks franchise in his post-playing life? That’s an answer for Gandalf, er, Nowitzki, to seek out.

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