Dirk Nowitzki has always considered Charles Barkley as his idol from the NBA. In fact, the German superstar had even chosen his jersey number after Chuck’s iconic number 14 that he wore for Team USA. When Stephen Curry passed Wilt Chamberlain’s scoring record for the Golden State Warriors in 2021, Nowitzki appeared in an ESPN interview where he once again reiterated his love and regard for the Phoenix Suns legend.
Advertisement
Nowitzki was the centerpiece for the Dallas Mavericks, where he spent his entire 21-season career in the NBA. During the interview, when Nowitzki was asked about the declining trend of players representing the same city throughout their career, the German Wunderkind replied with a great analogy involving Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan.
For the longest period of his career, Nowitzki believed that he would retire trophyless from the league. This was in line with Charles Barkley’s career, who went trophyless in his NBA career. Nevertheless, Nowitzki still had ample respect for Barkley. Addressing the topic of players leaving their franchises for chips, Nowitzki cited Charles Barkley’s example.
Dirk Nowitzki still has ample respect for Charles Barkley despite being ringless
Dirk Nowitzki has always been a fan of Charles Barkley ever since he started playing basketball. The German Wunderkind first witnessed Barkley in his full glory with the 1992 Dream Team at the Barcelona Olympics. Since then, he gained an affinity towards the star NBA forward, even selecting his jersey number inspired by the legend.
Barkley was also the inspiration behind Dirk’s iconic #41 jersey number at the Dallas Mavericks. Though Nowitzki retained the #14 jersey while representing Germany, he was denied the number 14 as a rookie at Mavs because franchise legend Robert Pack was unwilling to give up his jersey number. As a result, Nowitzki flipped the number 14 to 41, thus creating his own legacy around the same.
Moreover, Nowitzki had also admitted how he never lost respect for Barkley despite the 11x All-Star never winning an NBA ring. Barkley still remains a legend of the game in the German’s eyes, having won the MVP in 1993 and having led the Phoenix Suns to a Finals series against the Chicago Bulls that very year. While answering a question on one-team players, Nowitzki uplifted Barkley’s legacy and said:
“One of my big idols is Charles Barkley. I loved him — that’s why actually in Europe I had No. 14 because he wore No. 14 in the Olympics in Barcelona. And I never have looked at him lesser because he didn’t win a championship. He just happened to run into Michael Jordan all the time.”
Here, Nowitzki showed his respect for Barkley despite him shifting teams to seek a championship. In comparison, Michael Jordan stayed with the Bulls through almost the entirety of his career and won six titles during his tenure.
Charles Barkley and Jordan did have some memorable faceoffs in the league while also being the best of friends back then. Barkley faced MJ’s Bulls in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals in 1990 and 1991 and also in the 1993 NBA Finals. Unfortunately, Jordan’s Bulls triumphed over Charles Barkley’s teams every time they faced each other.
Charles Barkley has a similar admiration and love for Dirk Nowitzki
Charles Barkley has acknowledged the fact that Nowitzki regarded him as an idol. Chuck also never failed to hype the Dallas Mavericks legend whenever the conversation revolved around the league’s greatest centers.
While appearing on the Kelce brothers’ ‘New Heights Podcast,’ Chuck said that an 18-year-old Dirk Nowitzki would be ‘whooping a**’ against Team USA when they once faced the German national team.
Nowitzki had 40 points against the USA, beating the likes of great defenders such as Scottie Pippen and Charles Barkley himself. Dirk Nowitzki indeed broke the stereotypes of being a “European bust prospect” in cementing himself as one of the best centers in the history of the league.
