Ever Wondered How Dirk Got That Nice Arc In His Jumper? Samaki Walker Tells The Story

Back in the 2000s and early 2010s, watching Dirk Nowitzki shoot threes was an enriching experience for lovers of basketball. The technical execution of Nowitzki’s shooting form was a thing of beauty that made the German star a top 10 scorer of all time in the NBA.

But the Dallas Mavericks legend didn’t always blow the competition out of the water. As a ’90s teammate remembers it, Nowitzki had a somewhat questionable skill set and physical frame when he first came into the league.

In an appearance on Byron Scott’s “Fast Break” podcast, Samaki Walker recalled the earliest iteration of Nowitzki, who was drafted ninth overall in the 1998 NBA Draft just five days after his 20th birthday. “He couldn’t walk and chew bubble gum, honestly,” Walker shared. “Long fella. Skinny.”

Though Walker could see that Nowitzki didn’t have an easy time with the physicality of the NBA, he did note a particular spot on the floor where the young man thrived. “He couldn’t get down to the post earlier in his career, but out there on that elbow, he was a m*****f*****,” Walker said. “He had all the European s***, the jabs, the face-ups.”

Walker, who played for the Mavericks from 1996 to 1999, added that the turning point came when Nowitzki’s trainer, Holger Geschwindner, introduced a medicine ball to their practice sessions. “The trainer would hand it to him, he would shoot it straight up, and it would go into the trainer’s hands,” Walker described. “They would go all the way around the three-point arc.”

As Walker remembered it, this drill slowly but surely led to Nowitzki developing his signature high-release, high-arcing jumper, an incredibly difficult shot to contest. “When you see Damian Lillard and all the elite guys now develop functional strength, that’s med ball training,” Walker pointed out. “Dirk was doing that back in 1998.”

Thanks in large part to Geschwindner’s guidance, Nowitzki went on to torch the nets for over two decades in the NBA. To date, he is one of just eight players in league history to crack the 31,000-point mark. Suffice to say, the German icon would not have become a top-tier scorer if it weren’t for one humble prop.