Turkey, Greece, Spain, Italy, Germany and now even China? The offers for the services of Dirk Nowitzki are adding up by the day. But the German superstar has said he will not decide on his club future until after the 2011 EuroBasket.
“I’m going to play the Euros and then see where the lockout is after that. Until then I’m not going to look at playing anywhere else,” Nowitzki said in an interview with ESPNDallas.com.
The freshly-crowned NBA champion still believes that the on-going lockout will end before too long and he can return to the Dallas Mavericks. But Nowitzki also is realistic and said he will not go an entire season without playing.
“I’ve always said I’m too old to sit around for a whole year,” said Nowitzki, who turned 33 a week after the Mavericks won the title.
“I still can’t see this being a long lockout, but if it is, I’m going to find somewhere to play.”
Speculation is nearing a fever pitch as to where the former NBA MVP will play should the lockout not end.
“When there is no agreement in sight in October or November, then I will have to look and see what options there are,” Nowitzki said in an interview with the German daily Die Welt.
There are plenty of offers to sift through.
After weeks of German media saying Bayern Munich, Alba Berlin and Brose Baskets Bamberg were the front-runners in Germany, it seems that the options in Nowitzki’s homeland are down to two.
Bamberg are all but out of the running as they just had to ask their top sponsors to fork out more money to re-sign Brian Roberts after top playmaker John Goldsberry went down for about eight months with knee surgery.
Alba were big in the media last week when Nowitzki was practicing at their facilities in Berlin with Holger Geschwindner as he prepares himself for the 2011 EuroBasket. He also was spotted having lunch with former German international teammate and Alba assistant general manager Mithat Demirel.
“I don’t want to say anything about Nowitzki” said Berlin boss Alex Schweitzer said.
The next big rumor came from the Far East as the German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel reported that Chinese top flight Zhejiang Lions are ready to pay about 1.1 million euro per month for Nowitzki’s services.
Geschwindner was even quoted as calling China “a great option”.
The German sports news portal spox.com even joked: “Actually the only thing missing is an offer from Qatar.”
Nowitzki admitted that he is having problems getting motivated right now as he readies himself for EuroBasket – also in light of the unclear future with Dallas.
“At the moment it is tough to see what it’s coming. That’s why I have some slight motivation problems in getting ready for the European championship,” Nowitzki told Die Welt.
“The games are not the problem but rather the practice with Holger. Evenings the stepper, the weight room, the running – it’s difficult to motivate yourself sometimes.”
He added: “The fun is not back entirely but physically I feel good.”
Nowitzki is currently working out on his own and will join the German national team for the EuroBasket 2011 warm-up tournament in Bamberg on August 19-21.