Dirk Nowitzki is ready to return to action after missing the Mavericks’ first 25 games due to a left ankle injury, according to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon.
Nowitzki was officially inactive Wednesday night after being listed as questionable for the first time all season.
From ESPN’s MacMahon:
Dirk Nowitzki is finally ready to begin his record-breaking 21st season with the Dallas Mavericks, sources told ESPN.
The sources said that Nowitzki plans to make his season debut in Thursday’s road game against the Phoenix Suns after a longer-than-anticipated recovery from spring surgery on his left ankle.
“He’s getting closer,” coach Rick Carlisle said before the Mavs extended their home winning streak to 11 games with a 114-107 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.
Nowitzki had surgery to remove bone spurs from his left ankle just before the end of the 2017-18 season. The 13-time All-Star was on schedule to be ready for the start of this campaign before suffering a major setback. He was experiencing tendon soreness before the start of training camp in September, and since then had to push his timeline back.
Nowitzki, who averaged 12.0 points and 5.7 rebounds in 24.7 minutes last season, joins a scorching-hot 15-11 Mavericks team that is 8-2 in its last 10 games.
He sits 232 points behind Wilt Chamberlain for No. 5 on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. The 7-foot German is one of seven players overall, and the only international player, with more than 30,000 career points.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
