Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks signed a one-year, $5 million contract on Monday that sets him up for a record-setting 21st consecutive season with the only franchise he has ever played for.
The new deal will enable Nowitzki to pass the Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant for the longest unbroken tenure with one team in N.B.A. history.
Nowitzki, who turned 40 in June, has assured the Mavericks that he is prepared, if necessary, to play what is likely to be his final N.B.A. season in a reserve role, according to two people familiar with the negotiations who insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the talks publicly.
Needing just 233 points to surpass Wilt Chamberlain at No. 5 on the league’s career scoring list, Nowitzki knows that the Mavericks could ask him to come off the bench next season after the team signed the veteran center DeAndre Jordan in free agency. Nowitzki is fine with the switch, according to the people, as Dallas seeks to establish Jordan alongside its cornerstone trio of Harrison Barnes, Dennis Smith Jr. and the prized rookie Luka Doncic.
Nowitzki underwent ankle surgery in April, but has said repeatedly that he intends to play at least one more season.
Nowitzki and the Mavericks made the mutual decision in June for Dallas to decline his original $5 million team option for next season in case the extra salary-cap space that move created could help the team in free agency. But the Mavericks made its primary summer acquisition — signing Jordan away from the Los Angeles Clippers — without using all of its cap space, enabling them to re-sign Nowitzki to the same deal was he originally scheduled to receive.