Alex Bower

Dirk Nowitzki is Europe’s greatest ever basketball player. Against all odds and expectations, he blazed a trail for fellow Europeans in the NBA by not only winning a championship but by fundamentally changing the game. He invented the fadeaway jump shot, the stretch four position and changed the expectations for both big men and Europeans as a whole.

When he retired, we decided to tell his legendary story as a legendary tale: in the form of a modern basketball fairy tale that both reflected the place he came from and his impact on the game.

It was a real, physical book, and the name of it was:

First off, it was a real, physical book. We physically gave it out to 41 people that had meant something to his career, and then to public libraries and schools in the Dallas area, where he spent his entire NBA career. The rest were made available for a limited time on the Nike app.

We then created an animated version, narrated by his former team mate and great friend, double MVP award winner Steve Nash. You can watch it below.

5.5m people watched the video, and demand was so big that we even did a Maverick-themed takeover in the Nike store in Berlin to watch his last game, where people could take the book home too.