DPA
Los Angeles
Dirk Nowitzki emotionally thanked his parents during a ceremony marking his induction into the basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday.
“What you did for me, I will never forget for the rest of my life, and if I become half as good a father as you parents were for me, then I’ll be happy,” the 45-year-old said in German at the event in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Nowitzki was visibly moved as he spoke, with his fingers over his eyes. He has three children of his own.
Nowitzki played the entire 21 years of his NBA career for the Dallas Mavericks and left a deep mark on the world’s top basketball league. He led the Mavericks to the first and still only championship in their history in 2011, became the first European to be voted the league’s most valuable player and is number six in the all-time scoring list.
He is the first German to be elected to the Naismith Hall of Fame.
