Can the Dallas Mavericks Survive Without Dirk Nowitzki?

I’m of course referring to the team being forced to face life without Dirk Nowitzki.

Nowitzki, one of the NBA’s most durable and prolific scorers, is having knee troubles, the kind that have plagued him before. But this time, he may not be able to play through it. Something may need to be done.

From Eddie Sefko of the The Dallas Morning News:

Dirk Nowitzki doesn’t want to sound any alarms, but he also wants to be realistic.

For the second training camp in a row, his right knee is sore and swollen. Last season, it took nearly two months to get right.

Now, it’s back and Nowitzki would not duck the issue about what will happen if this situation lingers.

“We’ll see how it responds,” he said. “But the longer we wait, obviously the worse it is. If we have to do something, it’d be better to do it quick.

“But we’re still hopeful that this is a temporary thing. If we relax and rest it for a week and see how it goes, then we’ll have a better idea.”

Uh-oh.

The incredibly gifted, knee-jerking forward is not known to spend time on the sidelines. Through 14 years, Nowitzki has appeared in less than 70 games just twice. Here’s the kicker, though—the two years he played in less than 70 games were the 1998-99 and 2011-12 campaigns. Yes, that’s correct, two lockout-truncated crusades.

All I can say is wow. Nowitzki has proven to be a bull-dog, one who won’t let injuries slow him down or come between him and leading the Mavericks. But is that string about to come to an end? And better yet, is Dallas prepared to cope with such a scenario should it be actualized?

Though Nowitzki is no stranger to playing through pain, he’s 34, and has nearly 15 years of NBA-inflicted burn on his body, specifically those knees of his. So, while the Mavericks would like to ignore it and we would like to disprove it, the fact is Nowitzki’s human. And with mortality comes age, and with age comes susceptibility, and with susceptibility comes, well, injuries, ones that force players to the sidelines, in fact.

We can assume Nowitzki will be able to power through like he has always done, but what if he doesn’t? What then?

The Mavericks are screwed.

Though Dallas picked up the pieces after Jason Kidd and Jason Terry’s departure rather deftly, it is not prepared for this, it is not capable of suffering this type of blow.

For one, as deep as the Mavericks are outside of Nowitzki, they’re old and fragile as a collective. Elton Brand, Vince Carter and Shawn Marion are on the wrong side of 30 and none of them are strangers to injuries. Chris Kaman provides some two-way relief, but he’s not the All-Star caliber talent he once was. And it doesn’t help that the team’s supposed second star, O.J. Mayo, is struggling out the gate.

As painstaking as it is to admit in this day an age, an era where powerhouses are running rampant, Nowitzki is the Mavericks. He is the heart and soul of their offense, the end-all in the locker room and the one surefire weapon they have.

But the latter is floundering. Nowitzki is aging and it’s beginning to show, and ultimately, his penchant for durability may not be able to escape the clutches of Father Time.

And when that happens—if that happens—Dallas is done. No championship contention, no playoffs, no nothing.

Because as much as you want to believe the Mavericks have an identity outside of Nowitzki, they don’t.

So, should he go down, they’ll go down with him.