Mavericks set to snap 28-year Wurzburg, Germany streak in new NBA season

Billy Heyen

Mavericks set to snap 28-year Wurzburg, Germany streak in new NBA season image

Consider the city of Wurzburg in Germany to be the Dallas Mavericks' European home base.

This season, though, the connection has been snapped.

For the first time in 28 years, the Mavs won't have a player from Wurzburg on their opening day roster (barring a surprise change). Shoutout to this post for sharing the stat:

You've probably already realized that Dirk Nowitzki is the origin of this stat. He joined the Mavs in 1998 after being the No. 9 pick in the NBA Draft. 

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Ironically, Dirk wasn't the only German-born player on that team. Shawn Bradley was also born in Germany, but not in Wurzburg.

Anyway, Nowitzki then played all 21 of his NBA seasons for Dallas.

In 2017, the Mavericks signed Maxi Kleber, who was also born in Wurzburg.

Kleber stayed with the Mavs until the trade deadline this past season, when he went in the Luka Doncic deal to the Lakers.

So unless Dirk comes out of retirement, or Dallas somehow reverses the Kleber trade, that's it for the streak.

According to RealGM, those are the only two NBA players ever born in Wurzburg. 

Kleber hasn't actually suited up for the Lakers yet, because he was hurt when the trade happened. So until that happens, a Wurzburg-born NBA player has never stepped on the court in a uniform that wasn't the Dallas Mavericks.

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Billy Heyen

Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who has written about many sports and fantasy sports for The Sporting News. Sports reporting work has also appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle