Recently, we’ve taken a look at the NBA All-Stars who have done the most winning in the playoffs without All-NBA help (LeBron James) and All-Star help (James, again, followed by Nikola Jokic. So, naturally, today, we’re going to take a look at the superstars who have done the most regular-season winning without All-Star teammates.
And that distinction would belong to one Dirk Nowitzki, Hall-of-Fame big man formerly of the Dallas Mavericks.
Nowitzki racked up a whopping 591 wins in the regular season without an All-Star teammate, the most in league history. That was while the big German made 14 All-Star appearances himself, as well as 12 All-NBA Teams (four as a 1st Teamer and five as a 2nd Teamer).
Talk about a carry job.
Nowitzki played in Dallas from his rookie year in 1998-99 until the season he retired 21 years later, 2018-19. During that span, the Mavericks enjoyed a 12-season stretch in which they made the playoffs, as well as a run that saw the team qualify for the postseason 15 out of 16 years. And the one season sandwiched in there, in which the team missed the playoffs, 2012-13, Dallas still went 41-41, missing postseason qualification by just four games. What’s more, the main reason the Mavericks even missed the playoffs that year was due to the fact that Nowitzki missed the first 27 games of the season due to injury. Once Nowitzki returned to form, Dallas looked like its usual regular-season self in the Dirk Era, as the Mavericks went 14-9 over the last 23 games of that season, amounting to a win percentage that would equate a 50-win team if extrapolated over an 82-game season.
That era of Mavericks basketball saw the team win a championship in 2010-11, reach the Finals one other time (2005-06) and get to the Western Conference Finals one other time (2002-03), all while Nowitzki had to carry a roster without much help in the form of All-Star or All-NBA help. (Fun fact: Nowitzki also has the record for most regular-season wins without All-NBA teammates with 804. Dallas fans should be grateful to this day that Nowitzki was loyal enough to never ask out, because a lot of other stars without star help surely would have gotten frustrated enough to demand a trade.)
Arguably the best shooting big man of all-time, Nowitzi ranks eighth in NBA history in playoff wins without All-NBA teammates (56), and fourth all-time in playoff wins without All-Star teammates (47, two more than Michael Jordan).
All in all, it goes to show that you can make the case that few players did less with more than Nowitzki did in his career. His loyalty to the Mavericks remains so very commendable.
The All-Stars who did share the court with Nowitzki in Dallas are: Michael Finley (’00, ’01), Steve Nash (’02, ’03), Josh Howard (2006-07) and Jason Kidd (2009-10). And the Kidd selection was as a last-minute replacement, so Nowitzki’s number of regular-season wins with All-Star help could be even higher. Meanwhile, the only All-NBA teammate Nowitzki ever had in Dallas was Nash, who achieved the honor in ’02 and ’03. (Great call by Dallas letting Nash walk right before his back-to-back MVP campaigns. Surely, Nowitzki couldn’t have used that help in the playoffs.)
It’s interesting to think about the Nowitzki comparison to another all-time great big man of his era, Kevin Garnett. Garnett spent from 1995-96 through 2006-07 with the Minnesota Timberwolves, the team that took him out of high school in the 1995 NBA Draft. In those 12 seasons, Garnett would win regular-season MVP, lead the league in rebounding four times, earn All-Star honors 10 times and make three 1st Team All-NBAs, as well as three 2nd Team All-NBAs.
However, the Wolves made the playoffs just eight times in those 12 seasons, and got out of the first round just once, due to Garnett having a total lack of help on his roster. Garnett only had three All-Star teammates during his first Minnesota run: Tom Gugliotta (’97), Wally Szczerbiak (’02) and Sam Cassell (’04). Even worse, Cassell was the only All-NBA teammate Garnett had during that stretch, earning the honor in 2003-04 as a 2nd Teamer. To this day, Garnett ranks fifth all-time in regular-season wins without All-NBA help (637) and 13th all-time in regular-season wins without All-Star help (404), and those numbers would be even higher had Garnett not ultimately made the decision to leave Minnesota to join the Boston Celtics.
Other tidbits and curiosities….
We can’t discuss longevity stats without mentioning James. Not only did The Chosen One rank first all-time in playoff wins without All-Star and All-NBA help, but he also ranks second all-time in regular-season wins without All-NBA teammates (735), and eighth all-time in regular-season wins without All-Star teammates (432).
As far as a curiosity, how’s this? Andre Miller, whose only career accolade was 1st Team All-Rookie in 1999-00, actually ranks second in this exercise, as he had 542 regular-season wins in his career without an All-Star teammate. His longevity (Miller played 17 seasons), and the fact that he was on a lot of good-not-great teams in his career (Cleveland, Denver, Philadelphia and Portland), certainly gave him a boost here, but even so, that is a fascinating bit of NBA history.
A player we’re keeping an eye on to move up this ranking over the coming years is Jokic, as he’s already 36th in regular-season wins without All-NBA help (455) and seventh in regular-season wins without All-Star help (455). Considering that due to cap restraints, it’s hard to see Denver making moves to pick up All-Stars or All-NBAers, we can envision a scenario in which Jokic flies up this ranking even more over the coming campaigns.
Finally, as far as other all-time GOATs go, Jordan ranks 16th ever in regular-season wins without All-Star help (381), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ranks 67th (271) and Kobe Bryant ranks 71st (268). Abdul-Jabbar does rank ninth in all-time regular-season wins without All-NBA help, but he gets a bit of an unfair advantage there, as there wasn’t an official All-NBA 3rd Team until 1988-89, the last season of his career.
This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: In the regular season, no one won more without star help than Dirk Nowitzki
