9781422288009 Players & the Game Around the World

Patrick Ewing’s college jersey sits in the Basketball Hall of Fame.

DIRK NOWITZKI Dirk Nowitzki grew up in Germany. He didn’t start playing basketball seriously until he was fifteen years old. His parents were both athletes, though (his mother played basketball and his father handball), and he inherited their abilities. In 1998, when he was eighteen, he was named “German Basketballer of the Year.” From there, he headed to the NBA, where he played for the Mavericks. By 2014, he had scored 25,000 points. PATRICK EWING Many people forget that Patrick Ewing is an international player. He was born in Jamaica and didn’t move to the United States until he was twelve years old. He played basketball in high school, and then won a basketball scholarship to Georgetown University. In the

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Baske tbal l ’s I n t er nat ional Super s tar s