Steve Nash on Mavs Dirk Nowitzki becoming an all-time great: 'Who knew?'

DALLAS - History will remember the Dallas Mavericks as having employed two future Hall of Fame legends at the same time. Steve Nash, for one, never saw it coming -- not for himself, of course. And not for buddy Dirk Nowitzki, either.

“I don’t really think you can ever say a guy is going to win MVP, especially when he doesn’t come into the league with an immense reputation,'' Nash said. "I thought he could be an All-Star for sure, but I didn’t know he would go down as one of the all-time greats.''

If Nashie really saw that, then he was more prescient than the rest of us; I do not recall watching the German teenager as a rookie thinking, "There's an All-Star for sure!''

Similarly, by the way, as Nash came here after being a third-stringer with the Phoenix Suns -- and then struggled for most of his first season in Dallas, as did Dirk -- not too many of us saw future greatness there, either.

Of course, history now tells us that the Nelsons engineered the single greatest "transaction day'' in NBA history on June 24, 1998 as both future Hall of Famers were acquired on the same day.

Did we know Nash would go on to win two MVP awards? Or that Dirk would win one, and win a title post-Nash, along with passing Wilt Chamberlain on the NBA all-time scoring list?

“He truly has become an historic player, not only for the Mavericks, but in the history of the game,'' Nash said of Nowitzki, who in the end averaged 20.7 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists in his 21 years with the Mavs, become an all-time face of the franchise, an all-time face of international basketball and an all-time NBA'er. "Now, in a sense, it’s conceivable because of all the hard work he put in and you watched him progress year after year.

"But,'' Nash added, "I know at the start I think it’s impossible to say, ’Yeah, I thought he would have the career he had' because he was so unheralded.''