LeBron James calls Dirk Nowitzki the best international player ever / News - Basketnews.com

LeBron James placed Dirk Nowitzki among the best of all time in the power forward position.

Credit: AFP - Scanpix Credit AFP - Scanpix

A statue dedicated to Dirk Nowitzki was unveiled in front of the Dallas Mavericks' American Airlines Center yesterday. At the same time, the local team hosted the Los Angeles Lakers and LeBron James in an NBA Christmas game.

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Talking after the match, James acknowledged Nowitzki's greatness and even called him the greatest international player ever.

"It had to be a fadeaway one-legger," LeBron James said after the match. "It had to be. No question about it. Dirk is a legend. He's an icon. I think he's the greatest international player ever. I put him right there with Manu [Ginobili]. But what he brought here, what he brought to this city... that boy was cold, man. Dirk was cold. He revolutionized what a stretch four big could look like."

"You couldn't put a smaller [player] on him because he was too big, you really couldn't put a slow big on him because he was too quick with his first step early on," the superstar explained. "And you could never block his shot, he shot it behind his head, kind of like Larry Bird-esque."

Later on, James put Nowitzki on the same shelf as some of the greatest to ever do it.

"When you talk about top power forwards, top players of all time in that position, he's right up there with like [Charles] Barkley, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Kevin McHale, those guys," James said. "They tough. Dirk's tough. When you can talk about somebody with one name, you know he was tough. And Dirk was tough for sure."

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