Dirk Nowitzki could have been a member of the Heat had they asked him to join.
Dirk Nowitzki spent all 21 seasons of his NBA career with the Dallas Mavericks and is often celebrated for doing so. Dirk has been commended for his loyalty, but he revealed back in 2010 that he would have considered leaving for the Miami Heat had LeBron James and Dwyane Wade asked him to join them.
“It would already have to be an unbelievable situation to go somewhere, for instance with LeBron or Wade just to play in Miami,” Dirk Nowitzki said. “I would only be changed if it was an incredible situation that would have been offered. For example, LeBron and Wade comes to me and says, ‘Hey, you want to come to Miami?’ That would have been a situation where I would have to consider.”
That’s an incredible what-if scenario. Dirk, of course, was the one who led the charge as the Mavericks stunned the Heat in six games in the 2011 NBA Finals. It’s crazy to think that he could have been on their team had they just asked him.
Ultimately, the phone never rang, and Dirk, who was a free agent in 2010, signed a four-year, $80 million deal with the Mavericks. He made Wade and LeBron pay for not calling him by averaging 26.0 points, 9.7 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 0.7 steals, and 0.7 blocks per game in the NBA Finals against them, and he won Finals MVP for his efforts.
How Differently Would Things Have Panned Out Had Dirk Nowitzki Joined The Heat?
Had Dirk been the one joining LeBron and Wade instead of Chris Bosh, they’d probably win the title in 2011. We could potentially have gotten a Lakers-Heat matchup in the Finals, too, as it was Dirk and the Mavericks who had swept L.A. in the playoffs that year.
You’d expect the Heat to win in 2012 and 2013 in this scenario too, but it is doubtful that Dirk would have helped avoid that crushing defeat in five games in the 2014 Finals to the San Antonio Spurs. Nowitzki was still playing well, averaging 21.7 points per game in that 2013-14 season, but the Spurs were just far better than the Heat in that series.
Dirk would have been a three-time champion in this scenario. You’d still say, though, that the one championship he won in 2011 with the Mavs would have been worth more than these three.
Winning against all odds with Dallas just put Dirk on an elevated pedestal. Nowitzki went 12-3 against six NBA Top 75 players, including LeBron, Kevin Durant, and Kobe Bryant, in that magical playoff run, and it will live long in the memory of basketball fans.
