NBA: Dallas Mavericks Legend's Jersey To Be Retired 'Early Next Season'

The American Airlines Center will soon be looking at a new banner up in their rafters.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban revealed that they will be retiring the jersey of their long-time star Dirk Nowitzki though there is a dilemma on when the ceremony will take place.

Per ClutchPoints article, the initial plan was to have the German’s no. 41 to be retired towards the end of the season but they may be running out of time to get it done. “The challenge is just getting it all done just because it’s not a lot of home games left,” said the billionaire owner. It’s only like (19) home games left, so that’s the hard part,” added Cuban during an interview almost a month ago.

The Mavs only has 28 games left – only 13 of which will be played at home and the count excludes their tonight’s 119-123 loss against the Utah Jazz, who are now enjoying their third-straight win after a five-game slide. Prior to tonight’s showdown, the Jazz won the game at the buzzer against the small-ball Houston Rockets courtesy of a Bojan Bogdanovic trey at the curl over PJ Tucker and James Harden with only over two seconds left. The Croatian forward was only shooting 1-of-4 from deep before making the winning shot.

Jordan Clarkson was Utah’s top scorer for the second straight game with 25 points, eight assists, and five rebounds. He had 30 points off the bench while adding six rebounds and two assists in their win over the Rockets.

As a consolation, Luka Doncic is set to return on their game against the Sacramento Kings before the All-Star break per Mark Followill. The Slovenian star missed the Mavs’ last seven games after hurting his ankle during practice before their game against Houston.

Before the loss, Dallas snapped their two-game losing skid with their 116-100 victory against the Charlotte Hornets. Seth Curry caught fire, sinking his first 10 shots en route to finishing with 26 points. The game was a moment for the Curry household as the former Duke guard is now the league’s top three-point percentage among active players in the league, dethroning his older brother Stephen with his dad Dell calling the game for the Hornets in the broadcast panel.

Dirk Nowitzki played his entire 21 seasons with the Mavericks after getting drafted as ninth overall by Charlotte in 1998 before sending him to the Mavs, where he was named the league MVP in 2007 and winning the NBA championship in 2012.