Dirk Nowitzki agrees with Barkley that he could've been more successful if he went to Auburn: "But it went well…I went straight from the army"
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Hall of Famers Dirk Nowitzki and Charles Barkley shared a moment during the NBA on TNT tip-off show on Saturday night where Dirk was a guest commentator.
The two light-heartedly recalled their first meeting when Barkley tried to recruit Nowitzki to play college ball at his alma mater. Dirk declined and ended up going to the NBA straight from the German leagues. Nowitzki would go on to become the best international player to ever set foot in the NBA.
“I think so,,” Dirk replied when Chuck asked him if he could have been more successful if he had gone to Auburn. “But it went well. I went straight from the army, which you didn’t believe me at that time…That’s a true story.”
18-year-old Dirk dropped 52 on Scottie Pippen
Barkley first met Dirk during a Nike Hoop Heroes exhibition game in 1997. Nowitzki was then a young German teenager who was part of a team that played against a group of a Nike team that had NBA stars like Chuckster, Scottie Pippen, and Reggie Miller.
Despite playing against big names and having to be guarded by Pippen at times, the young Dirk went on to drop 30 in the first half against the U.S. team. He would finish the game with a 52-piece, which prompted Charles to approach him after the game and personally recruit him to play college ball at Auburn.
“And I said, ‘Yo man, who the hell are you?” Barkley recalled during his recent appearance on Club ShayShay. “And he got that thick German (accent) ‘My name is Dirk Nowitzki. I’m 18.’ I said ’18. Do you want to go to Auburn? I say, ‘Just name your price, we’re good’. He’s like, ‘What?’ I said, ‘ I want you to go to my college. Told the Nike guys ‘Hey, get his information’. They called me back a week later. No cuz then he said something, he says ‘I got to go to the army’.”
Dirk did go to the army after talking to Barkley
As Nowitzki said, Barkley didn’t believe that he would go to the army. But Dirk did, serving compulsory military service for the Bundeswehr beginning September 1997. The following year, Dirk declared for the NBA Draft, ending his stint with the army days after he was selected 9th overall by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1998 NBA Draft.
Interestingly, the Bucks traded Nowitzki’s draft rights to the Dallas Mavericks for No. 6 pick Robert Traylor in what Barkley called one of the worst trades in NBA history. Tractor Traylor never panned out in the NBA, while Dirk would go on to become one of the best players in NBA history.
It would have been interesting to see how the German forward would have done with at least a year of college basketball experience. He says he could’ve been better. Perhaps he was just trying to be nice to Chuck. Regardless, Nowitzki’s rise to NBA immortality is one of the greatest stories ever told.