Mavericks icon Dirk Nowitzki punctuates basketball journey on top of Hall of

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — On an idyllic night, against the consummate backdrop for the occasion, Mavericks great Dirk Nowitzki took his rightful place among basketball royalty.

His place in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame has been long secured, but that didn’t make Saturday night’s ceremony and Nowitzki’s official induction any less poignant for Nowitzki, his family and friends in the Symphony Hall or Mavericks fans back in North Texas.

Nowitzki, the next-to-last inductee of the Class of 2023, was visibly emotional as his time neared, but he apparently collected himself after being called to the stage at 9:32 p.m., perhaps because the thunderous cheers from a sizeable Mavericks contingent lasted a full minute.

“For the last few months, two words have been running through my head: ‘Thank you,’ ” Nowitzki said, beginning a theme sprinkled through 15-minute, 15-second speech, including a “Danke,” to his parents, Jorg and Helga after speaking emotionally to them in German.

Wurzburg native Nowitzki, 45, is the first German and seventh Mavericks player voted into the Naismith Hall. But he’s the only Maverick Hall of Famer who spent his entire career — a NBA-record 21 seasons — in Dallas.

The high point of course was the 2011 NBA championship, the only one in the franchise’s 43-year history. He also was celebrated Saturday night as the 7-footer who revolutionized basketball as the first true stretch-power forward and with his iconic and widely copied one-legged fadeaway.

Those facts, however, only partly explain why Symphony Hall brimmed with emotion during Nowitzki’s speech, punctuated by laughs when Nowitzki dropped zingers like when he dunked on Mavericks governor Mark Cuban’s head when they played one-on-one and to his co-Hall of Fame presenter Steve Nash: “We came a long way from those two brutal haircuts.”

Nowitzki is much more than the greatest Dallas Maverick. He’s one of the most beloved athletes in Dallas-Fort Worth history, a transcendent figure within his sport and in his adopted community. He saved one of his late thank-yous to Dallas fans.

“You guys inspired and motivated me to always work hard. I will always be proud to represent you guys and of course the Dallas Mavericks.”

The Hall’s Class of 2023 featured Nowitzki; Miami’s Dwyane Wade; Spurs coach Gregg Popovich and guard Tony Parker; and ex-Laker Pau Gasol. Saturday’s ceremony occurred less than a mile from Naismith Hall and two miles from Springfield College, where James Naismith invented “Basket Ball” in 1891.

Certainly when Naismith nailed two peach baskets on opposite walls in that YMCA gym on that December day 131 years ago, he didn’t fathom something called the NBA or a 7-foot guy from Germany becoming its sixth-leading scorer, with 31,560 points.

“You’re talking about a legendary person on and off the floor,” said Mavericks…