“You’re 7 feet tall, you’re not going to army!” Charles Barkley HILARIOUSLY tried to recruit 18-year-old Dirk Nowitzki to join Auburn

A young Dirk Nowitzki once said “NO” to Charles Barkley.

“You’re 7 feet tall, you’re not going to army!” Charles Barkley HILARIOUSLY tried to recruit 18-year-old Dirk Nowitzki to join Auburn

Dirk Nowitzki and Charles Barkley

Dirk Nowitzki made a special guest appearance on the show NBA on TNT and during the episode, Charles Barkley recalled a moment when he attempted to sell his college Auburn to Nowitzki. An offer in which the Dallas Mavericks legend politely declined because he had his mind on a different career path. 

Charles Barkley narrated how he took their All-Star team to Germany and there he met 18-year-old Dirk Nowitzki. The performance from the future NBA MVP amazed Chuck so he decided to test his recruitment skills which to his surprise got rejected. 

I said, you're 18? You wanna go to Auburn? Can I get your information? I want you to go to Auburn.' He looked at me with a straight face and says, 'I gotta go to the army.' I said dude you're 7 feet tall you're not going to the army.
Charles Barkley said

Furthermore, Dirk Nowitzki who is filling in for the absent Shaquille O’Neal at the end of the day didn’t make it into the army but rather forged a career in the NBA after bypassing college. His time in the NBA was a successful one as he became one of the league’s best foreign exports. 

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He ended his glorious career as an NBA champion in 2011 with the Dallas Mavericks as well as being a 14-time NBA All-Star and the 2007 NBA MVP. His time with the Mavs has led to a comparison with another European export, Luka Doncic who is also making a name for himself. 

Dirk Nowitzki revealed why he wore the number 41

Dirk Nowitzki while still on NBA on TNT shared a story of why he chose the number he was famously known for while in the books of the Dallas Mavericks. Ironically, it turned out that he was inspired by none other than Charles Barkley himself. 

I started playing basketball with number 11 because my dad had number 11 when he played handball. Then, Charles wore number 14 in the Olympics in Barcelona, and I loved Charles. Honestly, who didn't love Charles back in the day? So I switched to number 14… When I came to Dallas, I wanted number 14 but it was Robert Pack… So, I ended up just flipping the number from 14 to 41.
Dirk Nowitzki said

Nowitzki as a rookie had no choice but to go with another number even though he wanted to wear the jersey number of his favorite player, Barkley. The player wearing his preferred number Robert Pack was already a veteran in the league with 8 years of experience under his belt. 

However, the number 41 came to be associated with the German as he achieved numerous successes with it. Barkley can now take consolation from the fact that even though he failed in recruiting the German, he was idolized by him. 

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