Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said Monday that he hopes Dirk Nowitzki will return to the team next season, but he takes nothing for granted. Unprompted, he brought up the fact that Nowitzki can opt out of his contract and become a free agent when talking to reporters after the Mavericks' 118-104 Game 5 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
"We've got to hope that this isn't Dirk's last game as a Maverick," Carlisle said. "I'm ready to get on a plane and go to Germany and recruit him to be back. But I don't think we can take that for granted. We got to give him that kind of respect."
Carlisle said that coaching Nowitzki has been "life-changing," and while he is optimistic that the forward will play a 19th season in Dallas, Nowitzki is "too great" to bank on him staying just because.
"I think he will be back but I don’t want anybody to just assume anything," Carlisle said.
Exactly a month ago, Nowitzki said that he intends to pick up his player option and finish this contract with the Mavericks. He left the door just slightly open for a departure, saying that he wants to compete and would have to re-evaluate things if Dallas decided to rebuild. Nowitzki's comments on the subject have been consistent for years.
My read on the situation: Carlisle isn't actually worried about Nowitzki leaving, and he won't have to head to Germany anytime soon. He just wants to show the proper respect for Nowitzki, who has not advanced past the first round since winning a title in 2011. In some ways, the Mavericks haven't been as good to Nowitzki as he has been to them -- after winning that title, they decided to retool the roster. Since then, Nowitzki has not had a championship-caliber team, and Carlisle would like everyone to know how much the team appreciates his loyalty.
