Photo courtesy of Dirk Nowitzki via Twitter.

The Great Nowitzki: Basketball and the Meaning of Life was written by Thomas Pletzinger, who spent years following the Mavericks legend.

It tells the story of Nowitzki’s basketball career, drawing from interviews with fans, security guards at the arena, front-office executives, teammates and even coach Holger Geschwindner. All of that came from about seven years of research and traveling with Nowitzki.

The book was originally published in German in 2019. It has just become available to English-speakers this month.

Nowitzki, whose jersey No. 41 was retired earlier this year, has a home in Preston Hollow. During his career, he was a 14-time NBA All-Star and a four-time member of the All-NBA First Team. At the ceremony, Nowitzki received tributes, and team owner Mark Cuban unveiled a model of a statue that will be built to honor the player.

One of Nowitzki’s most recent projects was leading the St. Patrick’s Day Parade as grand marshal.