If you were a superstar athlete, the question went, when would be the ideal time for you to retire?
I heard that question at the beginning of this season when it was announced that Dirk Nowitzki would be missing extended time due to injury. The question popped up again a week or so ago when Nowitzki was making what might have been the final Salt Lake City appearance of his career.
Everyone had their own best-case scenario: after winning a title at the tail end of your halcyon days; before a drop-off in talent and ability became significant.
My answer always has been and always will be the same: I’d retire either when I no longer felt the competitive urge to keep playing, or when no team thought I could be of any use anymore. And not a second before.
But — goes the inevitable rebuttal — what about your legacy? You don’t want to run the risk or being remembered like Willie Mays on the Mets, do you? Or Joe Namath on the Rams? You wouldn’t want to embarrass yourself, would you?
I’ve never really understood such arguments. And the whole idea of legacy is kind of silly to me anyway. I can just envision Nowitzki sitting at his locker saying, “You know, I feel a lot better now, and I’ve still got that competitive fire, and so I’d really like to play one more season, but it’d really damage the lingering memory that Eric from Utah has of me, so I’d better just call it quits instead.”
These athletes don’t owe our memories anything.
Besides, it’s a faulty premise anyway. If I invoke the name “Willie Mays,” does your first thought really go to the Mets iteration hitting below the Mendoza line? Or are you envisioning the Giants version making the basket catch? If I say “Kevin Garnett,” are you envisioning the broken-down guy averaging 6.5 ppg for the Brooklyn Nets? Or do you have the young double-double machine from the Wolves or even the defensive virtuoso from the Celtics in your mind’s eye?
Hey, what about “Karl Malone”? You’ve got him in a No. 11 purple-and-gold Lakers jersey, right? That’s what I thought.
Speaking of which, growing up as a Lakers fan, I wasn’t distraught at seeing a diminished, 42-year-old Kareem Abdul-Jabbar average only 10 points per game in his 20th season. He was my favorite athlete ever — I was exceedingly grateful I got a few more chances to watch him play. I was only distraught when, with the Lakers on the verge of being swept in the 1989 NBA Finals, he checked out for the last time, and I knew that was it, that he really was done and never coming back.
Lamenting a player hanging on is a selfish thing to do, besides.
Athletes have a finite amount of time to participate in their chosen profession. How hypocritical would it me for me (a 42-year-old rookie NBA beat writer with the potential to keep doing this job for a long time) to tell Dirk Nowitzki (a 40-year-old NBA player whose physical limitations will soon preclude his continued playing from being possible, regardless of desire) that he’s past his prime?
This is not a boxer taking too many punches. Or even a football player running the risk of developing CTE with one more concussion. That doesn’t mean Nowitzki continuing on is without risk — an avid NBA observer who works as a physical therapist explained to me in a Twitter conversation some of the long-term damage Nowitzki might do to his body by continuing. But if Nowitzki understands that, it’s not my place to try to convince him otherwise.
And he very much seems to understand all of this, for what it’s worth.
Commissioner Adam Silver noted he put the German in the All-Star Game because, as he told reporters, “I saw him painfully running up and down the court, and I think it was clear that this was going to be his last season.” The sweet-shooting forward, who’s never explicitly confirmed this season will be it for him, reacted to the series of on-court tributes in every city he visits by wryly noting, “They’re making the decision for me, I guess.”
Maybe not, though. He just told ESPN’s Tim MacMahon he was feeling much better physically now, and is strongly considering yet another season: “I’d love to be there for the young guys one more year, but I think it depends on how the body feels. … I feel like I have a little more pep in my step. My legs and my wind are a lot better than [earlier in the season]. I just feel better overall. I feel like I can actually contribute.”
Seeing him at Vivint Smart Home Arena, his running was definitely stilted and awkward. But when he drained a trifecta of 3-pointers against legitimate NBA players who were not sympathetically taking it easy on him, I didn’t care what his gait looked like.
Keep shooting, Dirk — until you decide you don’t want to.
THREE MORE THOUGHTS
The right kind of legacy • As a player, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar earned a reputation as a surly and difficult individual to deal with. He seems to be trying to make up for it these days, though. The NBA’s all-time leading scorer has been auctioning off much of his memorabilia recently, and when news came out that four of his NBA championship rings were going on the market, it was widely assumed he’d frittered away his career earnings and was broke. Not so, it turns out. He revealed in a blog post that most of the proceeds will go to his Skyhook Foundation, which provides science, technology, engineering, and math opportunities for kids from economically challenged schools. “When it comes to choosing between storing a championship ring or trophy in a room, or providing kids with an opportunity to change their lives,” he wrote, “the choice is pretty simple. Sell it all.”
Another old man getting one more chance • Six-time All-Star Pau Gasol, who has averaged a mere 4.2 points and 4.7 rebounds in 12.2 minutes per game this season with the Spurs, agreed to a buyout with San Antonio on Friday, according to a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, and reached a deal with the Milwaukee Bucks in time for him to be playoff-eligible. He may not have a ton left in the tank physically, but he’s a smart enough player that I wouldn’t count out him finding some way to contribute to his new team.
Good news for Bagley • Sacramento’s surprising surge toward a playoff spot has been a fun plot line this season. So seeing rookie Marvin Bagley go down Wednesday with what appeared to be a serious knee injury was hard to watch. The young big man had been such an integral part of the Kings’ postseason contention — averaging 18.4 points and 9.7 rebounds in the month of February. The injury looked like it could have been devastating. Turns out, it was just a sprain, and he’ll miss 1-2 weeks. Obviously, it’s not ideal for Sacramento to lose him at this crucial time, but considering what could have been, I think the Kings will take it.
