Germany without Nowitzki at European tourney

Germany without Nowitzki at European tourney

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FRANKFURT -- Germany will be without Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki at next month's European Championship in Poland.

The German basketball federation said Friday that Mavericks owner Mark Cuban would not allow Nowitzki to take part in the championship, even though the forward has played for Germany at several major international events before.

Federation president Ingo Weiss said there were no hard feelings, however, and that "we accept this decision completely."

Weiss said that "over the past 10 years, we've had an excellent and reliable partnership with Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks, who always made it possible for Dirk to play for the national team."

Nowitzki said he would have liked to play, "but I can understand Mark Cuban's position."

Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press

I don't blame Cuban, Nowitzki has played basketball year round non-stop since he was a teenager...the dude needs a break or else run the risk of breaking down early.