Nowitzki announces his retirement from NBA after playing in final Mavericks home game

Reuters - Dirk Nowitzki was mum all season on his future plans but after a rousing performance in the Dallas Mavericks' home finale Tuesday (April 9), the star finally announced the decision everyone expected. Nowitzki made his much-anticipated retirement announcement after delivering a season-high 30-point performance, with five 3-pointers, against the Suns. The 7-footer scored 10 points in the opening seven minutes and had 19 points on a season-high 18 shot attempts in the first half. The 14-time All-Star and sixth-leading scorer in NBA history (31,540 points) finished the game with eight rebounds, three assists and a block in a season-high 33 minutes. Nowitzki's final season didn't actually begin until mid-December thanks to a longer-than-expected recovery from ankle surgery. From there, he mostly came off the bench for the first time in his career and averaged 6.6 points in fewer than 15 minutes a game. But on this special night, Nowitzki turned back the clock, and so did the crowd as it chanted M-V-P! M-V-P! Nowitzki won the league's regular-season MVP award in 2007 and earned NBA Finals MVP in 2011, when he delivered Dallas its lone championship. Nowitzki will finish his 21st season and final season Wednesday (April 10) at San Antonio.