Charles Barkley Didn’t Know Who Dirk Nowitzki Was

Nowitzki left the NBA players in shock after scoring 52 points against the team featuring Barkley, Scottie Pippen, Reggie Miller, and others.

Barkley remembered the first time he saw Nowitzki saying, “So we go to Germany and Dirk is – I don’t even know who he is. I see this tall, gangly kid out there. Dirk’s got 30…27, 28 points at halftime. So he’s killing us.”

;

He continued, “So Dirk finishes with 52, and I said Scottie, ‘Who is this guy right there?’ He said, ‘Dude we don’t know who this guy is.’ So I walk up to Dirk and start talking. He had that thick German accent, and I said, ‘Dude, how old are you?’ He said, ‘I’m 18.’ I say, ‘You going to college?’ He says, ‘I got to go into the army.’ I say, ‘You’re not going into the army, you’re 7 feet tall. You can’t hide behind no hill at 7 feet tall.”

Barkley then tried getting Nowitzi to attend his alma mater, Auburn University. He offered to pay his way there “no matter what it costs.” Auburn ended up not giving an offer, but University of California and University of Kentucky did. However, Dirk played in Germany professionally, fearing an American coach would change his game.