Dirk Nowitzki Back at Practice


There’s still no timetable for Dirk Nowitzki’s return to game action, but he is practicing with the Dallas Mavericks for the first time since right-knee surgery. Per the Star-Telegram: “But from the sound of it, Nowitzki likely won’t be back until the last week of this month or the first week of January. Nowitzki underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee on Oct. 19, but said constant swelling in the knee has prevented him from returning to the court sooner than he wanted to. ‘It wasn’t really hurting that much in the first place,” Nowitzki said of his knee. ‘It was just stuff in there that was irritating it and it was constantly swelling. We didn’t want to play the season on a swollen knee.’ Whenever he does return, Nowitzki would like to see his minutes limited to 20-25 per game for the first few games until he’s his old self again. ‘I’m not opposed to coming off the bench at the beginning and slowly finding my rhythm,’ Nowitzki said. ‘But I think that’s something we need to talk about when it gets closer, and we haven’t addressed that yet. I think it’s obvious I’m not going to play 35 minutes the first game out. That’s something I think we’re going to talk about next week.'”