Dirk Nowitzki celebrated a big milestone with his name misspelled on his jersey

Dan Devine
·Senior NBA writer

Dirk Nowitzki entered Monday night needing just seven minutes of floor time to reach the 50,000-minute mark for his NBA career, a level of rarefied air reached only by the kind of durable, dependable, distinctive immortals who have anchored franchises for years. He got there midway through the second quarter of the Dallas Mavericks’ game against the Los Angeles Clippers, joining a club with only a half-dozen members:

It was a pretty special moment for the most special player ever to suit up for Dallas’ pro basketball franchise. I’ve got to say, though: I’m kind of surprised that this is how the Mavericks chose to celebrate it:

Not an ideal thing to attach to the commemoration of a major milestone in the history of the greatest player your franchise has ever known, friends!

To be fair, the Mavs did get the spelling right before in the first half:

[double-checks spelling of ‘Nowitzki’] Yeah, that looks right. (AP)
[double-checks spelling of ‘Nowitzki’] Yeah, that looks right. (AP)

But evidently, Dirk decided to change things up at some point, and while the new jersey did have a couple of buckets in it, it did not have letters appearing in the appropriate order.

These things happen in the NBA, of course — to the likes of Eric “Beldsoe,” Paul “Milsap”, Andre “Drummund”, Rip “Hamiltion”, Jason “Smiht”, Zaza “Pcahulia”, Wilson “Chalnder”, Andray “Baltche” and whatever monstrosity befell Mustafa Shakur in the long, long ago of 2011. For it to happen to a player as iconic as Dirk, though — one who’s been with the franchise for 20 years, who’s now in the top six in NBA history in points scored and minutes played, who’s on his way to Springfield for all he’s done for the organization — feels downright wrong.

Then again, maybe it’s par for the course for the Mavs, who blew a 10-point lead in the final 4:42 of the fourth quarter to lose to the Clippers, and who now have the NBA’s third-worst record at 17-37. That’s the way Mr. Nowitkzi Nowitzki sees it, at least.

Dang, man. Now you got me all bummed out about Dirk’s bummed-out acceptance of his bummed-out station. Bad stuff all the way around, Mavs.

More NBA coverage:

– – – – – – –

Dan Devine is a writer and editor for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@oath.com or follow him on Twitter!