According to the official website of FIBA, the German national team plans to retire Dirk Nowitzki's No. 14 national team jersey. And in January of this year, the Lone Rangers have retired Nowitzki's No. 41 jersey.
The no. 14 jersey retirement ceremony is scheduled to take place on the opening day of the European Championship (September 1 local time) in Germany against the French nationals in Cologne, Germany. At that time, as the ambassador of this event, Nowitzki will be on the scene, which will be the first time that the German team has retired the player's jersey.
During his national team career, he played for Germany for 19 years (1997-2016), playing a total of 153 games, averaging 19.7 points and 7.5 boards per game. Under his leadership, the German team won the third place at the 2002 World Championships, the runner-up of the 2005 European Championships, and the right to participate in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in the 2007 Olympic Qualification Tournament.
In addition, Nowitzki has won the European Championship scoring champion three times (2001, 2005 and 2007), the world championship MVP (2002), the European Championship MVP (2005), the European Player of the Year six times, and the European Player of the Year twice.
Although he failed to lead the German men's basketball team to win the championship of international competitions, Nowitzki's career has no regrets, and the heavy NBA championship ring is a wonderful portrayal of his success.